LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf. 



..Hal 



UNITED STATES OF A31ERICA. 




Entered, According to an Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by 

Dr. Ec^-M^ard ]Sreddc>, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
All Rights Reserved. 





AND HIS DISEASES. 




A VALUABLE COLLECTION OF RECEIPTS AND MUCH 
OTHER VALUABLE INFORMATION, 
y BY 

DR. EDWARD NEDDO, SOUTH RJ^NI> INDIANA. 

SOUTH BEND. lND.»7o 1-' (/.^ J ' 
Tribune Prixtixg CoMPAXYrj^^TxTt'itfUjX '^jL 

1880. ^^\ ^ A ^ .■» f -y 



^ 



PREFACE, 



The horse is the noblest of all domesticated animals. He 
seems to have been expressly made for the service of man, and 
his beauty, knowledge, strength, and intrepid spirit, combined 
with his extreme docility, naturally renders him his faithful 
ally in all his pursuits, both for industry and pleasure. Thirty 
years constant study of this noble animal induces the author to 
say that the book which he now presents to the public is 
worthy of all horsemen's attention, and should be in the pos- 
session of every one engaged in the management of the horse. 
This book contains sixty-four recipes for the horseman or horse 
owner. It gives all the knowledge necessary to the cure of all 
the diseases, or nearly so, that are peculiar to the horse. One 
recipe alone in this book is worth twenty times the price of 
the copy. It is the one for making my Condition Powders. 
Conscious of the merits of the recipes herein, I offer them to 
the puVic. 

EDWARD NEDDO, Veterinary Surgeon. 



The Horse and His Diseases. 



Bolts. 



In the early springtime, as in the summer, horses are much 
troubled by a grub or caterpillar which crawls out of the annas 
and fastens itself under the horse's tail, causing the horse a 

great deal of itching. Men are sometimes very much alarmed 
by these insects. They cannot be injurious to the horse in the 
least, for he will enjoy ^ the best of health when the cuticular 
part of the stomach is filled with them. Therefore the wise 
man will leave them to themselves, and content himself by 
picking them off when they collect under the horse's tail and 
annoy the animal. 



Bunches and Callous. 

The Bone Spavin Ointment will remove bunches and callous 
without fail. Rub the part affected with the Bone Spavin 
Ointment and rub it in well with the naked hand. Grease be- 
low the bnnch with lard. Apply once in two days on callous. 
Wash it off with soap and water, and grease it well with lard. 
Let the lard remain on for one day, and wash it off and apply 
the ointment. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. O 

Button Farcy. 

Cause, overheat, high feeding, and want of exercise. Symp- 
toms, the limbs swell and break out in running sores. To cure 
this disease you must be very careful not to get the matter on a 
sore or cut, as it is poison and will kill you. In the first stage, 
bleed and physic. Then take of gentian, 2 oz., ginger, 2.] oz. ; 
make in a thick paste with a little flour. Divide into 10 parts 
and add to each separately 5 grains of arsenic. Make into pills. 
Give one in the morning and one at night. At noon give him 
one of my Condition Powders. Then wash the sores clean and 
apply the Black Salve twice a day, and oftener if necessary. If 
not much better in two to three weeks, bleed and repeat the 
pill. Apply the Orange liniment to the legs if they swell. 

Curb. 



These are oftener injuries of particular parts of the hock. 
I have had occasion to frequently describe the ring-like liga- 
ments which in the neighborhood of the joint so usefully tie 
down the tendons. From sudden or over-exertion these liga- 
menta may be extended, and inflammatton, swelling, and lame- 
ness ensue, or the sheath of tendons in the neighborhood of 
•^ oints, from their extended nature in these situations, and may 
be susceptible to injury. Curb is an affection of this kind. It 
is an enlargement of the back of the hock, about three or four 
inches below the point of the hock. For treatment, wash the 
part affected with hot water and soft soap, and let it get perfectly 
dry. Rub it well with the naked hand. Apply the Bone 
Spavin ointment; rub it it in well. Let it remain on for two 



6 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

days, and wash it xyff with hot water and soft soap. Grease the 
leg with lard and let it remain one day, and then wash it off 
clean and apply the ointment again as before ; and so continue 
until cured. Grease the leg below the curb with lard. 



Corns— Ho w^ to Cure Them. 

Take the shoe off, cut the corn entirely out. Fill the hole 
with butyr of antimony ; then cork the hole. Eepeat once in 
two or three days, as the case may require. Then shoe the 
horse with a smooth shoe. Use the Hoof Liquid on the foot. 



Colds. 

A treatment for colds : Take 1 pound of honey, make it 
warm, add 5 pound of New Orleans sugar, 2 ounces of glycer- 
ine ; melt it all together ; add shorts and stir until it becomes 
thick. Then make it into a pill ; make the pill about the size 
of a hen's egg. Give the horse three pills a day until relief is 
given. 



Capped Hock. 



The point of the hock is sometimes swelled. A soft, fluctu- 
ating tumor appears on it. This is an enlargement of one of 
those mucous bags of which I have spoken, and which sur- 



my: horse axd his diseases. 7 

round the iDsertion of the tendons into the point of tlie hock. 
It is seldom accompanied by lameness, but yet it is a serious 
business. It is usually produced by blows, and in a majority of 
instances by the injury which the horse inflicts upon himself 
by kicking. Therefore a horse with a capped hock is properly 
regarded with a very suspicious eye. The whole of the hock 
should be most carefully examined to discover whether there 
are other marks of violence, and the previous history of the 
animal should if possible be obtained. Generally the kicking 
is done in harness, but sometimes have the habit of kicking in 
the stable. It is possible, however, that lying on too thin bed 
or no bed may bruise the hock, aud produce the swelling, or it 
may even result from sprains of the hock, but I repeat that it is 
far oftener the consequence of external violence. Here again 
it is ditlicult to apply a bandage, and puncturing the tumor or 
passing a seton through it would be a most injudicious and 
dangerous practice. 

A cure for capped hock : Lance the swelling, cut straiglit up 
with the knife. Rub the fluid all out well. Then use this lini- 
ment — 2 oz. of alcohol, 2 oz. of turpentine, and the white of 2 
eggs. Let it stand siz hours. Shake well in a bottle ; add 2 oz. 
of raw linseed oil, aud 1 oz. of ammonia. Shake well before 
using. Apply twice or three times a day. Rub it in well with 
the hand. 



First Sta^e of Spasmodic Colic. 

The horse will generally lie down; then raise his right fore 
leg as if to paw, then make a motion with both legs as if to 
paw, then throw himself down. 




8 the horse and his diseases. 

Cuke for Spasmodic Colic ix the First Stage. 
Take 1 oz. laudanum, 1 oz. peppermint, 2 oz. niter, 80 drops 
of the oil of sassafras; drop in the niter. If not all right in two 
hours, repeat the dose once in two hours. Be sure the horse is 
not foul; if so, clean him, as this very essential. 

Second Stage of Spasmodic Colic. 

The horse will gener- 
ally paw first one foot and 
then the other, and looks 
slightly around to his 
sides. Then he will paw 
violently, as if in great 
pain. Will lie down and 
get up. Then he will 

break out in sweat about his flanks. 

Cure ix the Second Stage. 

Take H oz. of laudanum, 1^^ oz. of peppermint, 8 oz. of nitre, 
and 40 drops of the oil of sassafras. Drop in with the nitre, 
shake in a bottle ; put in one pint of water. Repeat once in 
two hours until relief is given. Do not work the horse for two 
or three days, for he is not fit for work. Exercise him moder- 
ately. 

Third Stage of Spasmodic Colic. 

The horse will paw and 
kick with one foot, get up 
and down, but not so often 
as in the second stage, but 
will lie longer, roll over, 
frequently crack his heels 
together as he rolls over; 
then as he changes, he will 

become wet with a cold sweat, showing that death is near at 




THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASSIS. 



baud. He will lie on his back, head and tail straight out. This 
is the change to the fourth stage of colic. 



Third Stage of Spasmodic Colic Cube. 

Give 2 oz, of laudanum, 2 oz. of peppermint, 3 oz. of nitre, 50 
drops of the oil of sassafras in the nitre; give it in one pint of 
water. If not showing signs of relief in three-quarters of an 
hour, give Chamberlain's Relief, 3 oz. in two hours after giving 
the first dose. Repeat the first dose again until a cure is effect- 
ed. This will never fail. A sure cure if the directions are 
carefully followed. 




Flatulent Colic. 

The horse lies down 
and gets up often. He 
looks at his flanks. His 
ears and legs are very 
cold. The cause of 
this disease is, cold water 
or change of food, or it 
is caused by giving the 
horse a long, hard 
drive, then bringing him to the stable and giving him cold water 
to drink when he is very warm. This will generally produce 
what is called flatulent colic, or cramp in the stomach. 

CURE FOR FLATULENT COLIC. 

Give 1 pint of rye whisky and 1^ oz. of No. 6 in 1 pint of 
water. If the whisky is not at hand use I2 oz. of No. 6 in 
nearly a pint of warm water, or 3 oz. 01 Chamberlain's Relief, 



THE FIRST STAGES OF FLATULENT 
COLIC. 



10 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

Diabetes. 

Too free discharge of urine. Cannot hold his water. The 

cause sometimes of this affliction is by the horse eating dusty 
or musty hay, and dosing with turpentine and saltpetre, which 
is very injurious, that is, if too much is given to the horse ; and 
then by giving the horse ashes in his feed, which will relax him. 
This should not be done. The horse troubled with this com- 
plaint should be bled. Take one pail-full of blood from the 
vein in the neck. Be sure to give clean food. Then give him 
A oz. the tincture of canthardies three times a day until a cure 
is obtained. Feed my Condition Powders twice a day for a 
week. Feed him soft feed ; do not let him be turned out. 



Distemper. 

This is a swelling under the jaw. The horse cannot swallow. 
Sometimes a discharge will be seen coming from the nose. 
Sometimes there will be found a tumor under the jaw. Open 
the tumor by passing through a seton ; wet this seton with tur- 
pentine. Put the Black Salve on from the ears down ; heat the 
Black Salve in with a hot iron ; use the salve twice a day. In 
the first stage use chamber-lye, 1 pint at a dose ; drench him 
with it twice a day, 1 pint each time. Give 2 doses the first 
day and 1 the next. I have cured a great many cases with just 
the chamber-lye. Use my Condition Powders twice a day. 
Also, feed the horse bran mashes twice a week. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASED. 



11 



Elbo^i^ of the Horse. 

The elbow is sometimes punctured by the horse lying on his 
foot, raising a bunch, or through the brutality of the groom. 
The swelling is often rapid and extensive, and fatal inflammation 
may ensue. Rest and the closure of the wounds are the most 
important considerations. For such a swelling, use the Eng- 
lish Liniment, andjcut it from the bottom of the swelling half 
way up. When it has the appearance of fluid in it, keep him 
from work a week or 10 days. Exercise him morning and 
night. Rub the liniment on two or three times a day until 
cured. 

The Cause of Founder. 



In the acute form 
there is great consti- 
tutional disturbance ; 
the breathing rapid, 
the pulse quick and 
j erking, the eyes glassy, 
the hind feet are thrust 
under the body, the 
fore feet are thrust 
under the body, and 
the head thrown back 
in order that the horse with founder. 

weight of the body may be taken oft' of the inflamed fore feet. 
All the symptons go to show that the horse is suffering extreme 
agony. The causes are fast driving, over hard dry roads, stand- 
ing upon the feet for a long time, or extraordinary labor of any 
kind. 




12 the horse and his diseases. 

Cure for Founder. 
Bleed the horse one pail full of blood from the neck veins, 
then give him 2 quarts of lard, melted; give it lukewarm. Wait 
7 hours, then repeat the dose by giving three pints. Be sure 
and give him a good physic. Take 8 oz. of nitre, 4 oz. of the 
oil of sassafras; put these together. Shake well, then add 2 oz. 
of laudanum, take J oz. of tincture of fetty, 3 oz. of water. 
Shake well. Take 2 oz. for a dose, in a pint of water. Give 3 
doses a day. Commence as soon as you bleed the horse, and 
keep it up until the horse is cured. Wash his legs and feet in 
as hot water as you can bear your hands in, then bandage his 
legs with hot cloths. Keep him well blanketed. This will cure 
the horse in three days or a week at the longest, if you follow 
all of the directions I have given. Remember much depends 
on your good care as well as the medicine. Use my Condition 
Powders. Feed soft feed. If you have pasture turn him out 
and place hoof liquid on all his feet. 



Still Founder. 



This is caused by fast driving, then when the horse is warm 
to let him stand in the cold, with the wind blowing on him, un- 
til he is chilled through. This will cause contraction of the 
muscles. Then the horse cannot move, which is quite a sur- 
prise to the driver to see that his horse cannot go. This is what 
is called still founder; Bleed this horse, from the neck vein — 
2 quarts. Give him 2 quarts of lard ; then in 6 or 8 hours give 
him another quart of lard ; so continue until he has a free and 
easy passage. Then give him 4 oz. of nitre, 2 oz. of alcohol, 3 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 13 

oz. of the oil of sassafras ; put all together, and shake well. 
Add 2 oz. of laudanum ; put into this 2 oz. of water, and shake 
well. Then give 3 times a day in 1 pint of water, 2 oz. of this 
medicine for a dose. This will not fail to cure, if you follow the 
directions here given, within 3 to 6 days. 



Inflammation of the Liver 

Is a disease of rare occurrence in the horse. He is not ex- 
posed to the causes which produce that complaint in other ani- 
mals. Although his food is sometimes highly nutritive, the 
work which is exacted from him prevents it from unduly stim- 
ulating this important organ, and when inflammation of the 
liver does occur it is with so much difficulty distinguished from 
that of the bowels that if yellowness of the eyes and skin are 
not presented, even the professional man is liable to be de- 
ceived. A treatment : Give the horse 7 grains of arsenic, di- 
vided into 20 doses, and 2 oz of ginger, 1 oz. of sulphur, 2 oz. 
of oil-cake, 1 oz. of fenegreak ; mix that well with } lb. of my 
Cleansing Powder. Give the horse one large spoon-full 3 times 
a day, after that twice a day until relief is given. Give one 
arsenic powder every time you do the other. 



Inflammation, or Hooks in the Eye. 



The horse's eyelids generally swell, and water, more or less, 
runs from the eye. The upper part of the eyelid looks red and 
inflamed. The eye-washers refuse to wash the eye. You will 



14 THE HORSE AFD HIS DISEASES. 

see a little hook on the front end of the eye-washers. Trim this 
off, but just a little. The object of this is to subdue the inflam- 
mation, and this is the quickest way. The horse should be bled 
below the eye, and roweled below the eye. sometimes, when 
they are very bad. Bleed in the neck, ^-pailful of blood. Keep 
the horse in the dark as much as possible, and exercise him 
every evening. Move the rowels twice a day, morning and 
night. Let the rowels remain from 12 to 15 days. Keep the 
horse on low diet, and do not overheat or work him very hard. 
Bran mash is the best grain to feed him ; do not feed corn. 
Make a wash of 4 grains of chloride of zinc in 1 pint of rain- 
water. Wash the eye well, and be sure to get the wash into the 
eye. Feed my Condition Powders twice a day. 



Inflain]n9,tion of the Stomach, 



Of inflammation of the stomach in the horse, except from 
poisonous herbs or drugs, I know little. It very seldom occurs, 
and then can with difiiculty be distinguished from inflamma- 
tion of the bowels, and in both diseases the assistance of a skill- 
ful veterinary surgeon is required. A cure for it : Bleed the 
horse in the right vein of the neck, from 6 to 8 quarts of blood. 
If not better the next day, bleed 6 to 8 quarts of blood from the 
left vein. Give the horse 3 oz. of nitre, I2 oz. of laudanum, 2 
oz. of peppermint or 10 drops of the oil of sassafras, in the 
nitre. Shake well in a large bottle together. Divide into two 
two doses, Give it two hours apart, each dose in one pint of 
water. If not showing relief in the course of 3 to 4 hours, re- 
peat the dose. Also give the horse I pound of Cleansing Pow- 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 15 

der, 4 oz. of pulverized cubebs, and 3 oz, of pulverized nitre 
root mixed well together, (live him three large spoon-fulls a 
day. 



Inflammation of the Bowels, 

The first is inflammation of the external coats of the stom- 
ach, accompanied by considerable fever and costiveness. The 
second is that of the internal or mucous coat, usually the conse- 
quence of an overdose of physic, and accompanied by violent 
purging. I will here speak of the first of these affections. It 
has been divided into inflammation of the peritonial coat and 
that of the muscular, but the causes, symptoms, and treatment 
of both are so much alike that it would be raising unnecessary 
difficulties to distinguish between them. Inflammation of the 
external coats of the stomach, whether the peritonial or 
muscular, or both, is a very frequent and fatal disease. It speed- 
ily runs its course, and it is of great importance that its early 
symptoms should be known. It the horse has been carefully 
observed, restlessness and fever have been seen to precede the 
attack in many cases; a direct shivering will be observed; the 
mouth will be hot and the nose red ; the horse will soon express 
the most dreadful pain by pawing, striking at his belly, looking 
wildly at his flanks, groaning and rolling. The pulse will be 
quickened and small, the ears and legs cold, the belly tender 
and sometimes hot, the breathing quickened, the bowels costive, 
and the horse becoming rapidly and fearfully weak. A cure 
for it: Bleed 1 gallon from the neck, and give the following, — 
4 oz. of nitre, 2 oz. of laudanum, 1 oz. of peppermint. Shake 
well in 3 oz. of water. Give 2 oz. of this 2 hours apart. It the 



16 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

horse continues to scour, repeat the dose, at 3 oz, 1^ hours 
apart, adding | oz. of Perry Davis' Pain Killer, or Chamber- 
lain's Ready Relief. Keep the horse warm, and rub his legs 
well with the hand, and bandage them with cloths. Take a 
blanket and dip it in hot water, and place it on his belly ; and 
so continue until cured. 



Jaundice. 

It is the introduction of bile into the general circulation, and 
which is usually caused by some obstruction in the ducts or 
tubes which convey the bile from the liver to the intestines. 
The horse, however, has but one duct through which the bile 
flows, as quickly as it is formed, and there is no gall bladder in 
which it can become thickened, and even hardened into masses 
so hard as to be very appropriately call gall stones. Jaundice 
does, however, occasionally appear either from an increased 
flow or altered quality of the bile, or obstruction even in this 
simple tube. The yellowness of the eyes and mouth, and of the 
skin, where it is not covered with hair, mark it sufficiently 
plainly. The dung is small and hard, the urine highly colored, 
the horse languid, and the appetite impaired. Take the grain 
away from him. Do not work the horse, but exercise him a 
little, and keep him warm ; also keep his bowels loose ; feed 
him two or three bran mashes a week. Feed him this powder : 
Take 1 ft), of my Cleansing Powder, 1^ oz. of red root, h oz. of 
saltpetre ; have it all pulverized. Give one large spoon-ful 3 
times a day. If you find the horse has a heavy fever, give 
to him, in addition to this powder, 2 oz. of pulverized cubebs 
and 5 grains of arsenic divided into 13 doses. 




THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 17 

Inflammation of the Lungs. 

The causes of in- 
flammation of the 
lungs are changes from 
cold to heat or heat to 
cold ; exposure to cold 
while the horse is hot, 
washing with cold wa- 
ter immediately after 

a hard drive, sudden ^^^^j, stage of inflmmatiox of the 
exposure to cold af- lungs. 

ter coming from a very hot stable, traveling in the face of a cold 
wind, the transferrence of general fever to the lungs, previously 
disposed to inflammation from the usual stable. Any change 
from heat to cold will produce it almost with equal certainty. 
The removal from a warm stable to a cold one, from grass to the 
stable, and from the stable to grass, will give rise to disease of 
the lungs. It may be distinguished from inflammation of the 
bowels by the pulse, which in the latter is small and wiry ; by 
the membrane of the nose, which is not then so much reddened ; 
by the indications of pain, such as kicking at the belly, stamp- 
ing and rolling ; by his eager scraping of the litter, and by the 
belly being painful to the touch, and also hot when the bowels 
are inflamed. 

HOW to cure inflammation of the lungs. 

In the first stages, drop on the tongue 80 drops of the tinc- 
ture of didgatalis once in twenty minutes, until the horsi^ 
sweats ; then wash legs with red pepper and hot vinegar, and 



18 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



bandage his legs up to the knees; keep his body warm ; do not 
allow him to have any cold water for twelve hours, and then 
take the chill off; feed him soft food. Give the horse 2 oz. of 
nitre, i oz. of laudanum, h oz. of peppermint, and 10 drops of 
oil of sassafras in 1 pint of water. Shake well before using. 



Lung Fever. 



The horse is taken with a hard chill : then breaks out in a 
sweat ; hangs down his head ; never offers to lie down, but 
groans whenever he is made to move ; his ears are deadly cold, 
and his legs the same. The causes of this disease are many. 
For instance, by giving the horse a large quantity of cold water 
when he has been overheated by a hard drive, or a change from 
a warm stable to a cold one, will almost always cause the hdrse 
to have lung fever. 

A treatment : In the 
second stages drop on 
the tongue 30 drops of 
the tincture of didgata- 
lis ; repeat this every 15 
minutes until the horse 
sweats. Then rub the 
legs with hot water and 
red pepper, mixed well. 
^^^Take 1 quart ot vinegar 

POSITION ASSUMED IN THE LAST ^^^ 2 OZ. of rep pepper ; 

STAGE OF LUNG FEVER. bandage the legs with 

flannel ; do not feed the horse any grain, nor give him any cold 

water ; give him milk-warm water, and feed him on gruel made 




THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 10 

of l-i ths. of flour, and 1 pail of water — also putin a little salt ; 
give in 12 hours IJ oz. of spirits of nitre, 1 oz. of laudanum, .1 
oz. of peppermint essence, in \ pint of water, and do hot work 
the horse for 10 daj's. 



Lampers. 



All young horses are subject to this trouble. It is nothing 
but inflammation of the gums. Cut the gums in several places 
until they bleed freely. Never burn the gums, because it makes 
a young horse look old. Feed him the Cleansing Powder. 



Nasal Gleet. 



The most frequent disease of the nasal cavity is an increased 
and thickened discharge of fluid from the nose. It is properly 
called nasal gleet. There is a constant secretion of fluid to 
lubricate the membrane that lines the cavity of the nose, which 
under catarrh or colds is increased in quantity and altered in 
appearance and consistence. But that to which I immediately 
refer is a continued and oftentimes profuse discharge, when 
every symptom of catarrh and fever has passed away — an al- 
most incredible quantity of thickened mucous of different col- 
ors. If the horse is at grass, almost as green as the food on 
which he lives, or if in the stable, white, straw-colored, or even 



20 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES.' 

bloody, and sometimes evidently mingled with pus or matter, 
and either running or snorted out in masses many times a day, 
teasing the horse and a perfect nuisance in the stable. I have 
known this to continue several months, and eventually destroy 
the horse. Stop working him ; take J ft), of alum, 2 ft), of rosin, 
2 ft), of blue vitriol, I ft), of ginger ; add this compound to 1 ft). 
of my Cleansing Powder ; mix well together and have it all 
well pulverized. Give one large spoonful every meal. Give 
him 5 grains of arsenic divided into 13 doses. Give the arsenic 
the same as the powder. Keep the horse out of the wet. 



Poll Evil. 



This is caused by the horse rubbing or sometimes striking his 
poll (head) against the edge of the manger, or by bruising the 
part with the halter, or from a very hard blow on the poll. This 
will cause inflammation to come on, and a swelling will appear, 
hot and tender, and very painful. 



A CURE FOR POLL EVIL. 



Before it breaks rub the part affected well, with Black Oint- 
ment. Apply twice or three times a day ; heat it in well with 
a hot iron until it draws a blister ; after two or three days open 
the blister. Repeat if necessary. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 21 

Quinsy. 



The horse runs at the nose a little, and often when he drinks 
the water runs out of his nose. The cause is, his throat is sore 
and swollen. The horse cannot eat well, and grows poor. The 
glands are swollen. The cause of this is catching cold and set- 
tling upon the glands, when the horse's blood is out of order. 

Treatment: Rub the throat well with the Black Salve once 
or twice a day, and feed the Cleansing Powder three times a 
day. If the horse should be short of of breath give him 10 
drops of degatlis every 15 or 20 minutes. Feed him bran 
mashes three times a week. 



Ring Bone« 



Ringbone commences in one of the posterns, and usually 
about the postern joint, but it rapidly spreads and involves not 
only the postern bones, but also the cartilages of the foot. 
When first the deposits are on the lower postern and on both 
sides of it, and produced by violent inflammation of the liga- 
ments of the joints, is recognized by a slight enlargement, or 
bone tumor, on each side of the foot and just above the cornet. 
This is more frequent in the hind foot than in the fore, because, 
from the violent action of the hind leg in propelling the horse 
forward, the posterns are more subject to ligamentary injury be- 
iiind than before ; yet the lameness is not so great, because the 
disease is confined principally to the ligaments, and the bones 
have not ]>een injured l)y concussion, while from the position of 



22 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES, 

the fore limbs and their exposure to concussion, there will gen- 
erally be found in them injury of the bone, to be added to that 
of the ligaments. In its early stage, when recognized only by 
a bony enlargement on both sides of the postern joint, or in 
some cases on one side only, the disease may be cured by this 
treatment : Wash the leg off with hot water and soft saop ; let 
the leg get dry, and then apply the Bone Spavin Medicine ; let 
it remain on 2J days, then wash it oft"; be careful not to rub the 
hair off; tlien grease with lard; let the lard remain on 1 day ; 
then wasli again, and apply the Bone Spavin Medicine as be- 
fore. If the hair comes off it will soon grow out again, so do 
not be alarmed in regard to that, but follow well my directions, 
and the ringbone wall soon disappear. 



Bone Spavin. 



A very serious affliction ; ranks under the name of spavin, 
and is an affection of the hock joint bone. I have observed 
that the bones of the .leg, the shank bone and the two little 
s})lint bones behind, support the lower layers of the bones of 
the hock. The cube bones rest principally on the shank bone, 
and in a slight degree on the outer spirit bone. The middle 
wedge bone rests entirely upon the shank bone, and the smaller 
wedge rests in a very slight degree on the shank bone, but 
principally, or almost entirely, on the inner splint bone. Then 
the splint bones sustain a very unequal degree of concussion 
and weight. Not only is the inner one placed more under the 
body and nearer the centre of gravity, but it has almost the 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 2;j 

whole of the weight and concussion communicated to the little 
wedgej^bone carried on to it. It is not therefore to be wondered 
at, that in the violent action of this joint in galloping, leaping, 
especially in young horses, and before the limbs have become 
properly knit, the inner splint bone, or its ligament (the sub- 
stance which connects it with the shank bone), should suller in- 
jury. The blacksmith increases the tendency to this by his in- 
judicious management of the feet. It is a common notion that 
cutting and wounds in the fee'i, from one foot treading on the 
other, are prevented by putting on a shoe with a corking on the 
outer heel — that is, the extremity (^f the heel of the shoe being 
bent, and thus the outer heel considerably raised from the 
ground. It is not unusual to see whole teams of horse ■<, and 
that all the year round, with the outer heel of the hind foot 
considerably raised above the other. This unequal bearing or 
distribution of the weight cannot fail of being injurious. It will 
place an unequal strain on the ligaments of the joints, and par- 
ticularly of the hock joint, and increase the tendency to spavin. 
When the spavin is forming there is always lameness, and that 
io a very great degree. When the membrane of the bone has 
accommodated itself to the tumor which extends it, the lame- 
ness subsides or disappears, as depends upon the degree in 
which the bony deposits interfere with the motion of the joint. 
We often see horses Avitli exceedingly large spavins that are 
only slightly lame, or tliat merely have stiffness in their gait 
at first starting, and that gradually goes off after a little mo- 
tion. There is always the peculiarity in the lameness of spavin 
that it abates and sometimes disappears on exercise, and there- 
fore a horse, with regard to which there is a suspicion of spavin, 
should be examined when first it is taken from the stable in the 
morning. Spavined horses are generally capable of slow work. 



24 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

They are equal to the greater part of the work of the farm, and 
therefore are not to be rejected by the small farmer, and may 
generally be procured at little price. These horses are not only 
capable of agricultural work, but they generally improve under 
it. They become less lame, and even the bony tumor to a cer- 
tain degree diminishes. 



HOW TO CURE A BONE SPAVIN. 



Take 1 ft), of lard, 1 oz. of powdered Spanish flies, 1 oz. of 
pow^lered gum euphorbium ; melt the lard — not too hot, put in 
the poAvdered Spanish flies first, th^n the euphorbium ; stir 
Avell until it becomes cold and mix it well in a clean dish. Fol- 
low the directions here given : Eub the hump well with the 
naked hand until it becomes warm, and then apply the oint- 
ment, and rub well ; at the end of two days, apply more of the 
ointment, rubbing well, as before, and let it stand four days ; 
then wash it off* with soap and water, very clean; have the 
water warm ; as soon as the leg becomes dry, grease the part 
affected with lard ; grease below the spavin, so that the ointment 
will not take the hair off". The horse may be worked every day; 
if not worked he must be exercised. Repeat the treatment 
every four days until cured. 



Bog Spavin. 

The hock is plentifully furnished with mucous bags. Some 
of these are found on the inside of the joint. From overexer- 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 26 

tion of the joint they become inflamed and considerably en- 
lartred. They are wind-galls of the hock. The sub-cutaneous 
vein passes over the inside of the hock, and over some of these 
enlarged bags, and is compressed between the skin and the en- 
larged bag, and consequently the passage of the blood through 
it is partially stopped. The blood, however, continues to be 
returned from the leg and foot; and being thus arrested in its 
course, a portion of the vein below the impediment and on the 
side of the hock is called bog or blood spavin. This is a very 
serious disease, attended with no great pain, but often perma- 
nent lameness, and a disease too apt to return when the en- 
largement has subsided under medical treatment. It must be 
considered as decided unsoundness. In a horse for slow work it 
is scarcely worth while to even attack it? In a horse destined 
for rapid traveling the probability of a relapse should not be 
forgotten when the chances of success and the expense of treat- 
ment are calculated. The old and absurd practice of passing a 
ligature above and below the enlarged portion of the vein, and 
then dissecting out the tumors, is not in the advanced stage of 
veterinary science, and is not practiced by any surgeon who has 
a regard for his reputation. The only method of relief is this 
process : Wash the part affected with hot water and soft soap, 
and leave plenty of suds on the leg. Let it stand six hours be- 
fore applying the ointment ; apply the Bone Spavin Ointment 
to the part affected ; rub the part well before applying the oint- 
ment ; also afterward, rubbing the ointment in well with the 
naked hand ; let it remain for three days with the ointment on ; 
grease it below the bunch with lard, so that the ointment will 



26 THE HOKSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

not take off the hair ; at the end of the third day wash it oft' 
with hot water and soft soap, and grease it again with lard ; and 
60 repeat every three days until cured. 



Blood Spavin 



Does not always cause lameness, except when the horse is very 
hard worked, and then it is doubtful whether the lameness 
should not be caused by the enlarged mucous bag, rather than 
by the distended vein. Both of these diseases, bone or blood 
spavin, renders a horse unsound, and lessens his value. 



TREATMENT. 



Rub the blood spavin with the Black Ointment twice a day, 
and heat it in with a hot iron, for three or four days. Then 
wash it off clean and use the Enolish Liniment. 



Splint. 



The splint is invariably found on the cutrical of the small 
bone, and generally on the inside of the leg. Why it should 
appear on the side of the small bone it is difficult to explain, 
except that the space between these bones is occupied by an 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 27 

important mechanism (which will be presently described), and. 

as in the case of abscess, a natural tendency was given them to 

determine outward, that vital parts may not be injured. The 

causes of their almost exclusive appearance ou the inside of 

the leg admits of easier explanation. The inner splint bone is 

placed nearer the center of the weight of the body than the 

other, and from the nature of its connection with the bones of 

the knee receives more of the weight than does the outer bone, 

and therefcre is more liable to injury and inflammation, and 

this consequent deposit of bone. The inner bone receives the 

whole of the weight transmitted to one of the small bones 
of the knee. It is the only support of that bone. A portion 

only of one of the bones rests on the outer splint bone, and the 
weight is shared between it and the shank. In addition to this 
it is the absurd practice of many smiths to raise the outer heel 
oi' the shoe to an extravagant degree, which throws still more 
of the weight of the horse on the inner splint bone. These 
tumors occasionally appear on other parts of the shank bone, 
being the consequence of violent blows, or other external inju- 
ries. When the splint is forming, the horse is generally lame. 
The periostum, or membrane covering the bone, is painfully 
stretched, but when this membrane has accommodated itself to 
the tumors that extend it, the lameness subsides and altogether 
disappears, unless the splint be in a situation in which it inter- 
feres with the action of some tendon or ligament, or in the im- 
mediate neighborhood of a joint. Pressing upon a ligament or 
tendon it may cause inflammation of these substances, or being 
close to a joint it may interfere with its action. Splints, then, 
do not necessarily cause unsoundness, and may not lessen the 
value of the horse in the slightest degree. All depends on their 
situation. When I have described the situations and causes of 



28 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

the suspensary ligaments, we shall be enabled to enter more 
fully into this. As for the old remedies, many brutal enough, 
bruising the splint with a hammer, boring it with a gimlet, 
chipping it off' with a mallet, sawing it off", stifling down the 
skin periosteum over it, sweating it down with hot oil and pass- 
ing a seton over it, the voice of humanity and the progress of 
science will consign them to a speedy oblivion. The inside of 
the leg, immediately under the knee and extending to the inner 
splint bone, is subject to injury from what is termed the speedy 
cut, A horse with light action, and in the fast trot violent, 
strikes the part either with his hoof or the edge of the shoe. 
Sometimes bony enlargements are the result, at others great heat 
and tenderness, and the pain from the blow seems occasionally 
so great that the horse drops as though he were shot. The only 
remedy is to take care that no part of the shoe projects beyond 
the foot, and let the inner side of the shoe be beveled. This 
part of the hoof, being unfettered with nail, will expand when 
it comes in contact with the ground, and contract when in the 
air and relieved from the pressure of the weight of the body ; 
and although this contraction is of no great extent, it will be 
sufficient to carry the foot handsomely by the leg. Care should 
be taken that the shoe be of equal thickness at the heel and 
toe, and that the bearing be equal on both sides. Immediately 
under the knee we find one of those ligament rings by which 
the tendons are so usefully bound down and secured, but if the 
hinder bone of the knee, the trapezium, be not sufliciently 
prominent, this ring will confine the flexos tendons of the part 
too tightly ; the leg will be very deficient in depth under the 
knee. This is called being tied in below the knee. Every horse 
man recognizes it as a most serious defect. It is scarcely com- 
patible with speed, and most assuredly not with continuance. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 29 

8iich horses cannot be ridden far or fast without serious sprains 

of the back sinews. The reason is plain. The pressure of the 
ring will produce a degree of friction inconsistent with the free 
action of the tendons ; more force must therefore be exerted in 
every act of progression, and although the muscles are power- 
ful, sufficiently so for every ordinary purpose, the repetition of 
this extra exertion will tire and strain them. A more serious 
evil, however, remains to be stated. When the back sinews or 
tendons are thus tied down, they are placed in a more oblique 
direction, and in which the power of the muscles is exerted at 
a greater disadvantage, and therefore both for extraordinary and 
even ordinary action a greater degree of exertion is required, 
and fatigue and sprain will frequently result. There are few 
more serious defects than the tying-in of the tendons immedi- 
ately below the knee. The fore-leg may be narrow in front, 
but it must be deep at the side, in order to render the horse 
valuable, for then only will the tendons have free action, and 
nuiscle'force be exerted in the advantageous directions. The 
recollections of the reader will convince him that there are few 
good race-horses whose legs are not deep below the knee. If 
there are exceptions it is because their exertions, althougli vio- 
lent, are but of short duration. The race is decided in a few 
minutes, and during that period the spirit and energy of the 
horse may successfully struggle with the disadvantages of form. 
As they descend the back part of the leg the tendons of the 
perforated and perforating Hexor muscle should be far and dis- 
tinctly apart from the shank bone. There should be space free 
from thickenings for the fingers and thumb on either side to be 
introduced between them and the bone, and that extending from 
the knee to the fetlock. In a perfect leg, towards the lower 
part there should be three distinct and perfect projections visi- 



30 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

ble to the eye as well as recognizable by the fingers, at the sides 
of the shank bone, the most forward of the three the suspen- 
sory ligament, and hindermost of all the flexor tendons. Where 
these are not distinctly seen or felt, or there is considerable 
thickening about them or between them, and the leg is round 
instead of flat, there has been what is commonly but improperly 
called the sprain of the back sinews. 

A treatment : Wash the part aflected well with hot water 
and soft soap; Let it remain until perfectly dry; apply the 
Bone Spavin Ointment to the part aeflcted ; rub it in well with 
the naked hand ; let it remain two days, and then wash it off' 
with hot water and soft soap, and grease it with lard ; let the 
lard remain on 1 day, and if necessary repeat. Grease the leg 
below the splint with lard. 



Mad Staggers. 



The horse suddenly begins to heave at the flanks, his nostrils 
expand, his eyes unclose, he has a wild and vacant stare, and 
delirium comes rapidly on. He will dash himself furiously 
about. There is no disposition to do mischief, but his motions 
are sudden, violent, and accompanied by perfect unconscious- 
ness ; and he becomes a terrifying and dangerous animal. This 
continues until his former stupor returns, or he has literally 
worn himself out. There are only two diseases with which it 
can be confounded, and from both of them it is very readily 
distinguished — colic an.d madness. In colic the horse rises and 
falls, but not with so much violence. He sometimes plunges, 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 31 

but he more often rolls himself about. He looks frequently at 
his flanks with an expression of pain, and he is conscious. In 
madness there may be more or less violence. There is a deter- 
mination to do mischief, and there is always consciousness. 
Over-exertion when the horse is too fat or too full of blood, or 
during very hot weather, is a frequent cause of inflammation of 
the brain, but what will produce general fever may be the cause 
of mad staggers. 

A treatment : Bleed one pailful of blood from the right vein 
in the horse's neck ; give him 2 oz, of nitre, ^ oz. of laudanum, 
20 drops of sassafras in the nitre ; put it all together and shake 
well ; add 1 pint of water ; drench the horse with this ; repeat 
if the horse is not all right in two or three hours ; the next day 
bleed 1 pailful of blood from the left vein in the neck. Give 

him my Cleansing Powder twice a day for a week ; after that 
once a day. 



Sweeny, or Stiff Shoulder. 



Introduce a seton from the top of the shoulder blade, run- 
ning it down as far as it is affected, which is known by the 
flinching. First cut through the skin, then two striffins. In- 
troduce the needle through or under the striffin. Use a blunt 
instrument ; move it backward and forward] as far as it is tight 
to the muscle. Let the seton stay in 16 days. Apply the Bone 
Spavin medicine to the string, and in the upper part of the sore 
put in some of the Black Salve. Use the Common Hoof 
Liquid on his feet, for in many cases the disease commences in 



32 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

the feet. Take the seton out the 17th day, then rub well the 
shoulder with my Black Salve ; heat in well with a hot iron. 
This will not fail to cure. Don't fail to move the seton every 
morning, by drawing it up and down, and keep the part clean. 



Scratches, or Grease Heels. 



Is caused by high feeding and not giving the horse good 
care, when the horse is taken to the barn for the night, and by 
not keeping the barn clean. As a horse that is taken into the 
barn -with his feet covered with mud, and let to stand in that 
condition, will take fever, and will in time produce scratches, 
and if this disease is not cured, it will terminate in grease heel. 
Grease heel is still a greater disease. This is known by cracks 
that break below the fetlock, and sometimes above ; cause the 
legs to swell ; sometimes matter will ooze from them. This dis- 
ease is called almost incurable, although I have cured hundreds 
of cases with the recipe here given : Give the horse 2 lbs. of 
Cleansing Powder, add 1^ oz. of saltpetre, 1 oz. of pulverized red 
root, ^ ft), of sulphur ; pulverize ; give him a large spoonful 
morning and night ; wash the leg with hot water and soft soap ; 
apply the Black Ointment twice a day, morning and night, and 
do not Avash off for 4 days. Wash as before ; apply the Black 
Ointment as before, if necessary, and so continue until cured. 

See Cleansing Powder. 

See Black Ointment. 



IHK HOHSK AM) UJS DlSJCASHS. iJH 



Sivelled Legs. 

The fore legs are often subject to considerable enlargement, 
but much oftener the hind ones, when the horse does not 
seem to labor under any other disease, and sometimes from a})- 
parent shifting of inflammation from other parts. Inflamma- 
tion of the lungs or eyes not infrequently changes its seat. The 
hind legs suddenly swell to an enormous degree from the hock 
and almost from the stifle to the fetlock, attended by heat and 
extreme tenderness of the skin ; excessive and very peculiar 
lameness. It is acute inflammation of the cellular substance of 
the legs, and that most sudden in its attacks, and most violent 

in its degree, and therefore attended by the pouring out of a 
great deal of fluid in this cellular substance. It occurs in young 
horses which are overfed and little exercised, without previous 
inflammation in any other part. Horses seemingly in perfect 
health and on full allowance of food, if they remain several 
days without exercise, will have swelled legs. The arterial cap- 
illary vessels have conveyed a great deal of fluid to the extrem- 
ities; from over-feeding, want of muscular exertion, and the 
perspiration connected with it. The fluid has accumulated, and 
is lodging in the extremities because the vessels liave not the 
power to return it. 

A cure for it: Wash the part affected well with hot water 
and soft soap ; leave plenty of suds on the leg ; exercise the 
horse every day ; bandage the leg with cloth very tight every 
time you wash it; apply the English Liniment; let it remain 
until dry before using the liniment ; rub it in well with the 
hand, and give him 3 oz. of nitre, 1 oz. of laudanum, 1 oz. of 
peppermint, in 1 pint of water; shake well, and divide into 2 



84 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

doses ; give it one hour and a half apart ; feed the horse 1 tb. of 
Cleansing Powder ; give him a large spoonful night and morn- 
ing ; give him 13 doses of arsenic, I dose a day. This never 
fails. 



String Halt. 

There is a peculiar twitching of the hind leg, or convulsive 
action of the muscles by which it is bent. Is termed string halt. 
This is an aifection of some of the nerves which communicate 
action to these muscles. It is principally observed when the 
horse is first taken from the stable, and gradually ceases after 
he has been exercised a while. It is unpleasant to the rider, 
but it cannot be called a determined unsoundness. On the con- 
trary, common opinion has given to the horse with string halt a 
more than usual share of strength and endurance, and if it be 
an excess of nervous energy, although irregularly exerted, we 
find no difiiculty in associating it with general powerful muscu- 
lar action. A cure for it : If you find three little lumps along 
the line of the back, place a seton in each one ; put the Blister 
Salve on the seton ; move the seton once or twice a day ; let the 
setons remain in until relief is given ; after removing the setons 
apply the Black ointment, and heat it in well with a hot iron. 



Slovenish Horse. 

The horse will mope along lazily ; don't act right or drive as 
he did ; acts as though he could not move, even if he *is per- 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 35 

suaded by the use of the whip. The food does not seem to do 
liim any good in the way of producing strength or flesh ; some 
will carry flesh, while others will continue to grow poor, and 
will eat all that is given them. Such a horse should be bled ; 
take 1 pailful of blood from the neck. Then give him this 
powder: Take my Condition Powder, make 13 powders; put 1 
tablespoonful in each powder; then add 4 grains of arsenic, 
divide into 13 parts ; mix with the powders; then take 3 grains 
of black antimony, divided into 13 parts, and mix with the 
powders ; give twice a day for two or three days ; then give my 
Condition Powders, 1 tablespoonful at noon each day ; then give 
the little powders once a day after the first two days until they 
ire all gone; continue tlie Condition Powders until he is re- 
stored to perfect health. Feed him bran mashes two or three 
times a week. 



The Stifle. 



The upper bone of the thigh is united to the lower by a 
somewhat complicated joint. It terminates by two round prom- 
inences behind, which are received in two slight depressions on 
the upper surface of the lower bone, and in front is a curious 
groove, over which plays a small, irregular bone. The whole 
is called the stifle bone. When the horse is stifled use this lin- 
iment: 4 oz. of turpentine, 4 oz. of alcohol, and the whites of 4 
eggs ; put into a bottle and shake well ; let it stand 4 hours ; 
then add 1 oz. of ether, and it is ready for use. Hub tliis lini- 
ment on three times a day. 



36 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



Sore Mouth or Tongue. 



The mouth runs water; the horse throws the hay out of his 
mouth. The cause of this sometimes is by placing a frosty bit 
in his mouth, or by a sharp tooth. Take h oz. of pulverized 
alum, h oz. of honey ; dissolve the alum in 3 oz. of strong sage 
tea ; add the honey ; wash his mouth with this twice or three 
times a day. This will never fail. 



Thrush 



Is a discharge of offensive matter from the cleft of the frog. It 
is inflammation of the lower surface of the sensible frog, and 
during which pus is secreted together with, or instead of, horn. 
When the frog is in its natural state, the cleft sinks but a little 
way into it. But when it becomes contracted or otherwise dis- 
eased, the cleft extends in length, and penetrates even to the 
sensible horn within, and through this unnaturally deepened 
fissure the thrushy structure and action of the frog takes place. 
It is found in the hind feet oftener and worse than in the fore, 
for in most of the stables the hind feet are exposed to the dung 
and urine moistening ana at the same time irritating them. The 
distance of the hind feet from tRe center of circulation, would 
cause in the case of grease more exposure to the acccumulation 
of fluid and discharge of this kind. In the fore feet thruslies 



THK HOllSK AND HIS DISEASES. 87 

are ur^ually connected with contraction. I have stated tliat they 
arc both the cause and effect of contraction. The pressure of 
the frog from the wiring in of the heels will produce pain and 
inflammation, and the inflammation, by the increased heat and 
suspended functions of the part, will dispose to contraction. 
Horses of all ages, in all situations, are subject to thrush. 
Thrush is not always accompanied by lameness ; in many cates 
the appearance of the feet is scarcely altered, and the disease 
can only be detected by the peculiar smell of the discharge. 
In all cases have the horse shod with a smooth shoe. Spread 
the heel so that the foot has no chance to contract, and pour 
butyr of antimony on the frog until it fills the creases ; apply 
the butyr of antimony twice every day for four days ; after that 
once a day. In very bad cases in loss of frog I have found it 
necessary to poultice the foot with human dung for a couple of 
days ; then apply the butyr of antimony for six weeks. This 
produces a new frog. Be sure to have the frog perfectly dry; af- 
ter applying the medicine drop a little water on the frog, and 
be sure not to drop any butyr of antimony on the hair. 



Warts. 



These are tumors of variable size, arising from the cuticle, 
and afterwards connected with the true skin by means of the 
vessels which supply the growth of the tumor. They are found 
sometimes on the eyelids and on various parts of the skin, and 
on the prepuce. They must be removed by an operation. If 
the roots be very small, it may be snipped asunder witii a pair 



66 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

of scissors close to the skin, and the roots touched witli muri- 
atic acid, two or three times. Then use the Orange Liniment 
to heal it up with. This is the only sure way of curing them 
permanently. This will kill them every time, but be sure that 
you dissect them well before you apply the muriatic acid. Then 
there is no danger of tkeir ever growing out again. 



Whites. 



This is a discharge caused by weakness, also very injurious to 
the mare. fShe will lose flesh, look dull, v/ill not travel as she 
should, but stray along lazily, with head down as though she 
is tired and worn out. Give the mare the following, which 
will effect a cure : Take 1 tb, of my Condition Powders h lb. of 
sulphur, J. oz. of red root, pulverized ; mix all well together, 
then give 3 or three tablespoonsful a day. It will be well to 
give my Condition Powders for a few days before giving this 
medicine. The mare should be washed out clean with 1 quart 
of soft water ; chloride of zinc until it looks like suds or scales ; 
give her an injection with this medicine every morning and 
night for 2 or 3 day. This will cure every time if you follow 
these directions. 



Worms. 

The horse eats, but will not thrive ; his belly is large, his hair 
stares. Give him a dose of physic; take 3 pints of lard ; next 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 39 

morning 2 pints ; make the lard milk- warm ; wash the mouth 
after you give him the lard ; feed him the Cleansing Powder 
and 5 grains of arsenic divided into 13 doses; give it to him 
twice a day for three days, after that once a day. 



Water Farcy 



Is confunded by some with common farcy, by wiiich much con- 
fusion has been caused — and a great deal of mischief. It is a 
dropsical atfection of the shin, either of the chest or limbs, gen- 
erally. 

A treatment : Feed the horse my Cleansing Powder twice a 
day in soft bran mashes ; exercise the horse twice a day ; take 1 
tb. of my Cleansing Powder, h ft), of salts, 4 oz. of ginger, 2 oz. 
of pulverized red root, 4 oz. of sulphur ; mix well ; feed the 
horse this powder three times a day. Rub the swelling with 
the Orange Liniment two or three times a day ; if the swelling 
does not disappear within two or three days, put a seton in it. 



Wind Sucking. 



This bears a close analogy to crib-biting ; it arises from the 
same cause, the same purpose is accomplished, and the same re- 
sults follow. The horse stands with his neck bent, his head 
drawn inward, his lips alternately a little opened and then 
closed, and then a noise is heard as if he were sucking. If 1 
may judge from the same comparative want of condition, and 



40 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

the flatulence which I have described, either some portion of 
wind enters the stomach, or there is an injurious loss of saliva. 
This diminishes the value of the horse almost as much as crib- 
biting ; it is contagious, and it is inveterate. The only reme- 
dies, and they will seldom avail, are tying the head up except 
when the horse is feeding, or putting on a muzzle with sharp 
spikes towards the neck, which shall prick him whenever he at- 
tempts to rein in his head for the purpose of wind sucking. 



Wind Galls. 



Use the Black Ointment ; apply it to the part affected and 
rub it well with the hand , heat it in with a hot iron ; apply 
twice a dav until cured. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 41 



RECIPES, 



A Recipe for Black Ointment. 



One pint of turpentine, 10 oz. of organum, 10 oz. of vitriol 

(get it all by weight), and 4^ lbs. of lard. Melt the lard in an 

iron kettle, pour in the turpentine first, organum second, and 
vitriol last ; stir until cold. 

I am indebted to Mr. Crofoot for the recipe of this salve, 

which I now give to the public. 



Condition Po'wders. 



This powder is a compound of minerals and vegetables, act- 
ing as a tonic, removing all obstructions of the liver and kid- 
neys. As a tonic, it restores lost appetite. It should be given 
to all horses that are moulting, or shedding their coats, as it is 
generally termed. It is given in jaundice or yellow water, it 



42 THE HOKSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

acts as a diuretic, and should be given to remove all obstruc- 
tions of the urine. It is perfectly safe, and should be given to 
the mare when in foal. 

For worms of all kinds annoying the horse, this powder 
should be given by adding 5 grains of arsenic to one large 
spoonful of this powder. Give it each evening for 15 or 20 
days. This will never fail. In all cases give 1 large spoonful 
each day until you have restored the animal to health. 

Every horseman should be in possession of the recipe for 
compounding this powder. 

Take 2^ lb. of hickory or tamarac ashes, and 1 lb. of corn meal ; 
sift them both together, and mix them well with the hand ; let 
them stand 24 hours ; then add 2 lbs. of oil cake, 1 ft. ot sul- 
phur, ^ ft. of black antimony, and j ft. of annis seed, and mix 
it all together well with the hand. 



A Cure for Cracked Heels. 



Take the Black Ointment and melt it in an iron spoon. Pour 
it into the cracks twice a day, morning and night. 
This will cure the worst case of cracked heels. 



Egg Liniment. 



Take 4 oz. ot turpentine, 4 oz. of alcohol ; take the whites of 
3 eggs; let it stand 12 hours before using (the older this lini- 
ment the better it is). 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 48 

This liniiiient is good for man or beast, on wound or sore ; in 
applying on fresh sores there is no danger of taking cold. 

Applying this liniment on SAvellings and rubbing well will 
reduce them. 



English Liniment. 



Take 4 oz. of turpentine, 4 oz. of alcohol, the white of 3 eggs ; 
shake well ; let it stand 3 hours ; add ^ pint of linseed oil and 
2 oz. of ammonia. This for horse only. 

Directions: Rub the part affected well with this liniment 
morning and night. 



Eye Wash. 



Take 5 grains of Chloride of zinc, a pint of rain water or dis- 
tilled water ; shake well before using. 
This wash is proper for man or horse ; get it into the eye. 



Hoof Liquid. 



Take 1 pint of fish-oil, 1 pint of oil of tar, 2 oz. of organum, 
2 oz. of glycerine ; put it all into a bottle and shake well. 



44 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

COMMON HOOF LIQUID, 

Which should be kept in all barns: Take 1 pint of fish-oil, 4 
oz. of oil of tar, 1 oz. of barbadoes of tar. Shake well ; apply 
3 times a week, up to the hair. 



The Best Heave Powder Out. 



Two pounds of brimstone ; take a bar of cast steel, heat to a 
welding heat, then quickly place it over the anvil, pass the 
brimstone over it while it is at a welding heat ; touch the brim- 
stone over it lively ; as soon as the heat is off, stop putting the 
brimstone on. Be very careful with your hands, so as not to 
burn them ; it would be better to wear gloves. Let the contents 
of this drop into a pail of water ; it will look like sucker, or, in 
other words, like rubber ; take this and dry it in an oven, then 
pulverize into powders. Feed the horse 3 spoonsful a day for 
4 days ; feed in the bran, and feed marsh hay wet. 

I have cured very hard and difficult cases with this recipe ; 
keep the barn neat and clean, especially the horse's manger ; 
don't feed much hav. 



Common Heave Po'wder. 

Give the horse troubled with this complaint Ij tb. of ginger, 
1^ ft), flax seed, 1 oz. of black antimony, 3 oz. of annis seed and 



THE HOUSE AND HIS DISEASE^:. 45 

5 cents worth of lampblack ; mix all together, stir it all up 
nicely, so that it will be well mixed. 

Give the horse three tablespoonsful three times a day, 1 in 
the morning, at noon and night ; do not allow the horse to 
drink any water except that you will prepare by putting in 
blueing, such as is used for washing. 



A Cure for a Pain in the Stomach or in the bovrels— Good 
for Man or Beast. 



Take 2 oz. of laudanum, 1 oz. of the best of nitre, oz. of pep- 
permint essence, 50 drops of oil of sassafras ; put in with the 
nitre Ij oz. of water; then add the other medicines; put in a 
bottle and shake well ; take 1 teaspoonful of this in half a cup 
of water once in 20 minutes ; will feel relief in 5 minutes. 

This medicine I always keep in my house, and use it myself, 
and have used it for years, for it will never fail to cure any pain 
in the stomach. 

For a dose for a horse give from 1 to 2 oz., according to the 
horse's complaint. 



Orange Liniment. 

i'ake 1 pint of raw Unseed oil, 2 oz. of spirits of ammonia, and 
shake well before using, in case of rheumatism add 1 oz. of 
tincture of capsicum. 



46 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

This is one of the best liniments now before the public. It 
is not only good for horses, but equally good for the human sub- 
ject. For chillblains, frozen feet, chapped hands, chapped lips, 
neuralgia, burns, stiff neck, contracted tendons, and swelled 
glands. 

Apply it night and morning, rubbing well with the hand. 
For frosted feet bathe the part well before going to bed, and 

draw on a woolen sock. 

« 

For the horse it is used for sore shoulders and back fistula, 
poll evil, sprains of the limbs or stifle, scratches or grease heel. 
It is perfectly safe to use it upon fresh cuts or wounds, upon 
man or beast. 

In using this liniment for scratches or any old sore, first wash 
the part with soft water and soap of any kind ; then, when dry, 
apply the liniment with the hand night and morning. Never 
tie up a wound on your horse if you use the Orange Liniment. 

For Sweeney in the first stage use this liniment every evening, 
rubbing well the part affected. If of long standing, you will 
have to use the seton. 

Physic Balls, 

The w oz. of aloes, 3 drachms of gamboge, 3 drops of the oil 
of juniper, and make into a pill with a few drops of honey. 

• Tartarxuatic for Heaves. 

This medicine is given to horses that have the heaves. Yon 
will find that it will soon relieve a horse, especially after he has 
had a hard drive, or been worked hard. They will heave very 
much as a general thing. Then give 1 teaspoonful of tartar- 
matic for a dose, three times a day. This will relieve the ani- 
mal in a short time. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 47 



Exercise, 



My observations on this important branch of stable manage- , 
nient must have only slight reference to the agricultural horse. 
His work is usually regular and not exhausting ; he is neither 
predisposed to disease by idleness nor worn out by exertion ; lie, 
like his master, has enough to do to keep him in health, and not 

enough to distress or injure him ; on the contrary, the regularity 
of his work prolongs life to an extent rarely witnessed in the 
stable of a gentleman. My remarks on exercise, then, must 
have a general bearing or reference to those persons who are in 
middle stations in life ; who manage to keep a horse for busi- 
ness or pleasure, but cannot afford to maintain a servant for 
the express purpose of looking after the horse. The first rule I 
would lay down is, that every horse should have daily exercise. 
The horse with the usual stable feeding, if he stands idle for 
three or four days, as is the case in many establishments, must 
suffer. He is disposed to fever or grease heels, or to most all of 
the diseases of the foot. And if after these three or four days 
of inactivity he is ridden fast or far, he is almost sure to have 
inflammation of the lungs or inflammation of the feet. A gen- 
tleman's or tradesman's horse suffers a great deal more from 
idleness than he does from work. A stable-fed horse should 
have two hours exercise every day, it he is to be kept from 
diseases. Nothing of extraordinary or even of ordinary labor 
can be effected on the road or in the field, without suflicient 
daily exercise. It is this alone which can give energy to the 
system or develop the powei-s of any animal. How, then, is 



48 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

this exercise to be given? As much as possible under the su- 
perintendence of the owner. The exercise given by the groom 
is rarely to be depended upon. It is as inefficient as it is ex- 
treme. It is in many cases both irregular and injurious. It is 
dependent upon the caprice of him who is performing a task^ 
and who will render that task subservient • o his own pleasure 
or purpose. In training the race-horse regular exercise is the 
most important of all considerations, however it may be forgot- 
ten in the usual management of the stable horse. The exer- 
cised horse will perform his task, and sometimes a severe one, 
with ease and pleasure, while the idle and neglected one will be 
fatigued ere one-half of his labor be accomplished, and if he be 
pushed a little too far dangerous inflammation will ensue. How 
often; nevertheless,, does it happen that the horse that has stood 
inactive in the stable three or four days, is ridden or driven 
thirty or forty miles in <the course of a single day ? The rest is 
often given to prepare the animal for the extra exertion, to lay 
in a stock of strength for the performance of the task required 
of him ; and then the owner is surprised and dissatisfied if the 
animal is fairly used up, or perhaps becomes seriously ill. 
Nothing is so common and preposterous as for a person to buy 
a horse from a dealer's stable, where the animal has been idly 
fattening for many a day, and immediately to give him a long 
drive, and then complain and think he has been imposed upon 
if the horse is exhausted before the end of the drive and is 
compelled to be led home, suffering from violent inflammation. 
Regular and gradually increasing exercise should be given. A 
young horse requires more than an old horse. Nature has 
given the young horse every kind of a disposition to activity, 
but the exercise should not be violent. The rapid trot or even 
the gallop may be resorted to in the middle of the exercise, but 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 49 

the horse should be brought in cool. If the owner would sel- 
dom intrust his horse to boys and would insist on the exercise 
taking place in the neighborhood of his residence, many an 
accident and irreparable injury would be avoided. It should be 
the owner's pleasure and is his interest, personally to attend to 
all these things. He manages every other part of his business, 
and he may depend on it that his horse suifers when he neglecta 
or is in a manner excluded from the stable. 



50 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



Crib Biting. 

This is a very unpleasant habit and a considerable defect, al- 
though not so serious a one as some have respresented it to be. 
The horse lays hold of the manger with his teeth, violently ex- 
tends his neck, and then, after some convulsive action of the 
throat, a slight grunting is heard, accompanied by an apparent 
sucking or drawing in of air. Whether, however, air is drawn 
in and thus the horse becomes more subject to the colic, or a 
portion of air is expelled, showing the previous existence of 
flatulence and a disposition to colic, are questions that have not 
been settled among Veterinarians. The horse is evidently 
making the edge of the manger a fixed point by means of which 
he may overcome' that obstacle which formation of the soft pal_ 
ate and the back part of the mouth would present to either the 
expulsion or drawing in of the air^ it accomplished through the 
medium of the mouth. When we consider, however, that any 
air expelled from the stomach might easily find a passage 
through the nostrils, without the action of crib-biting, while it 
would be difficult or impossible without some material altera- 
tions in the natural form and action of the parts at the back of 
the mouth, and particularly the covering of the wind-pipe, to 
convey air to the stomach. I am inclined to the belief that 
this fixed point is used to enable the animal to accomplish this 



THE HOUSE AND HIS DISEASES.' 51 

alteration and suck up and convey a certain portion of air into 
the stomach. The effect of crib-biting is plain enough. The 
teeth are injured and worn away, and that in an old horse to a 
very serious degree. A considerable quantity of corn is often 
lost, for a horse will frequently crib with his mouth full of 
corn ; the greater part will fall over the manger, and much sal- 
iva flows out while the manger is thus forcibly held, the loss of 
which must be of serious detriment, as impairing his digestion. 
The crib-biting horse is notoriously more subject to colic than 
other horses usually are, and to a species difficult of treatment 
and even dangerous. Although many crib-biting horses are 
-stout and strong, and capable of all ordinary work, these horses 
do not generally carry much flesh, and have not the endurance 
of others. On this account crib-biting has very properly been 
decided to be unsoundness. It is one of those tricks that are 
very contagious. Every companion in the stable with the crib- 
biter is likely to acquire the habit, and it is the most inveterate 
of all habits. The edge of the manger will in vain be lined 
with iron or with sheepskin, or with sheepskin covered with tar 
or aloes, or with any other unpleasant substance. In defiance 
of the annoyance which these may occasion him, the horse 
will again attack his manger. A strap buckled tightly around 
the neck will prevent the possibility of this action ; but the 
strap must be worn constantly, and its pressure is too apt to 
produce a worse affection, an irritation in the throat which ter- 
minates in rearing. Some have recommended turning out for 
five or six months, but this has never succeeded except in a 
young horses, and then rarely. The old cribber will employ 
the edge of the gate for the same purpose as he will his man- 
ger, and I have seen him gallop aci-oss the field for the same 
purpose, of having a grip at a rail. Medicines in cases similar 



62 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

to this will be altogether thrown away. The only remedy is a 
muzzle, the buttons sufficiently wide to enable the animal to 
pick up his corn and pull his hay, but not to grasp the edge of 
the manger. If this be worn a long time the horse may get 
tired of attempting what he cannot accomplish, and may pos- 
sibly for a while forget the habit ; but in the majority of cases 
the desire will return with the power of gratifying it. The 
causes of crib-biting are serious, and some of them beyond the 
control of the proprietor of the horse. I have said that it is 
often the result of inaction, but it is more frequently the conse- 
quence of idleness. The high fed and spirited horse must be 
in mischief if he is not usefully employed. Sometimes, not of- 
ten, I believe, not often, it is produced by partial starvation, 
whether in a bad straw yard or from unpalatable food. An oc- 
casional cause of crib-biting is the frequent custom of grooms, 
even when the weather ' is not severe, of dressing them in the 
stable. The horse either catches at the edge of the manger or 
at the edge of the partition on either side, if he has been 
turned, and thus forms the habit of laying hold of these sub- 
Rtances on every occasion. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 58 



Grooming* 

Of this much need not be said, since custom and apparently 
without ill effect, has allotted so little of the comb and brush 
to the farmer's horse. The animal that has worked all day and 
is turned out at night requires but little more done to him than 
to have the dirt brushed from his limbs. Regular grooming, 
by rendering the skin more sensible to the alterations of tem- 
perature and the inclemency of the weather would be pred- 
judicial. The horse that is altogether turned out needs no 
grooming. The dandruff or scurf which accumulates at the 
roots of the hair is a provision of nature to defend him from 
the wind and cold. It is to the stabled horse, highly fed and 
worked but little, that regular grooming is of so much conse- 
quence. Good rubbing with the brush or the curry comb opens 
the pores of the skin and circulates the blood to the extremitier 
of the body, and through the minute vessels of the skin, and 
produces free and healthy perspiration, and stands in the room 
of exercise. No horse will carry a fine coat without either heat 
or dressing. They both effect the same purpose — they both in- 
crease the insensible perspiration ; but the first does it at the 
expense of health and strength, while the second, at the same 
time that it produces a glow or gloss on the skin, and a deter- 
mination of the blood to it, rouses all the energies of the frame. 
It would be well for the proprietor of the horse if he were to 



•'54 THE HORSE A^STD HIS DISEASES. 

insist upon it, and to see that his orders are really obeyed, that 
the fine coat that he so much delights in, is produced by honest 
rubbing and not by a heated stable and thick covering, and, 
most of all, not by stimulating or injurious drugs, as so many 
think. When the weather will permit the horse to be taken 
out he should never be groomed in the stable. Without dwell- 
ing on the want of cleanliness when the scurf and dirt that is 
brushed from the horse lodges in the manger and mingles with 
his food, experience teaches us that if the cold is not too great 
the animal is braced and invigorated from being dressed in the 
open air to a degree that cannot be obtained in the stable. There 
is no necessity, however, for half of the punishment which 
the groom in many cases inflicts upon the horse in the act of 
dressing, and particularly on one whose skin is thin. The curry 
comb should at all times be lightly applied. With many horses 
its use may almost be dispensed with, and even the brush need 
not be so hard, nor the points of the bristles so irregular as they 
often are. A soft brush with a little more weight of the hand 
will be equally effectual and a great deal more pleasant to the 
horse. A hair cloth, while it will seldom irritate and tease, 
will be almost sufficient with horses that have thin hair, and 
have not been neglected. Whoever would be convinced of the 
benefit of friction to the horse's skin and the horse generally 
need only observe the effect produced by well hand rubbing the 
legs of a tired horse. While every enlargement subsides and 
the painful stiffness disappears, and the legs attain their natural 
warmth and become fine, the animal is evidently and rapidly re- 
viving ; he attacks his food with appetite, and then gently and 
quietly lies down to rest. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 65 

Co'w Hock. 

The lines of direction of the legs beneath the hock should 
not be disregarded. The leg should descend perpendicularly to 
the fetlock. The weight and stress will then be equally diffused, 
not only over the whole of the hock, but also the postern and 
the foot. Some horses, however, have their hocks closer than is 
natural to each other, and the legs take a divergent direction 
outward, and the toes are likewise turned. These horses are 
said to be cat or cow hocked. They are generally supposed to 
be possessed of considerable speed, and I believe they are, 
and thus account for it: The cow hocked horse has his legs not 
only more turned outward, but bent more under him, and this 
increases the distance between the point of the hock and the 
the tendons of the performing muscles. Then the point of the 
hock, moved by the action of the muscles, is enabled to de- 
scribe a greater portion of a circle, and in proportion to the in- 
creased space passed over by the point of the hock will the 
space passed over by the limb beneath be increased, and so the 
stride of the horse may be lengthened, and thus far his speed 
may be increased. But this advantage is more than counter- 
balanced by many evils. This increased contraction of the mus- 
cles is an expenditure of animal power, and I have already 
stated, the weight and the concussion being so unequally dis- 
tributed by this formation of the limb, some part must be over- 
strained and overworked, and injury must ensue. On this ac- 
count it is that the cow hocked horse is more subject than 
others to thorough pin and spavin, and is so disposed to curb 
that these hocks are denominated by horsemen curby hocks. 
The mischief extends even further than this. Snch a horse is 
peculiarly liable to windgall, spavin of the fetlock, cutting and 
knucklins:. 



66 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



Warbles, Sitfa4St. and Galls. 



On other parts of the back, tumors and very troublesome 
ulcers may be produced by the same cause. The little tumors 
resulting from the pressure of the saddle are called warble, and 
when they ulcerate they frequently become sitfasts. The ulcer 
has a portion of callous skin in the centre of it, resembling 
leather in its appearance, and so closely adhering as not to be 
separated without great force, or dissection ; hence the name of 
this peculiar ulcer. 

Warbles are too ofteA but little regarded. They will frequent- 
ly disappear without medical treatment, but they will at other 
times degenerate into sitfasts. If it be practicable the horse 
should have rost, or, at all events, the stuffing of the saddle 
should be so arranged that every degree of pressure be removed 
from the part. Use the Orange Liniment. 

For galls there is ijo better application than the Orange Lin- 
iment, common sense, and common humanity. I would suggest 
the necessity of chambering the saddle and the collar, and not 
suffering the animal with sore places as broad as the hand to be 
unnecessarily tortured by the rubbing of the rough and hard- 
ened stuffing. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 57 

Setons 

Are pieces of tape passed by the means of an instrument called 
a large needle, either through abscesses or the base of ulcers 
with deep sinews, or between the skin and the muscular or 
other substance beneath. They are retained there by the ends 
being tied together by a knot at each end. The tape is moved 
in the wound twice or three times a day, and wet with spirits of 
turpentine or some liquid in order to increase the inflammation 
which it produces, or the discharge which is intended to be 
brought about by the use of the seton. In abscesses such as 
tumors in the withers or the poll, and when passed from the 
summit to the very bottom of the swelling, setons are highly 
useful, as discharging the fluid and suffering any fresh quantity 
of it that may be secreted to flow out, and by the degree of in- 
flammation which they excite on the inside of the tumors it 
helps to throw out healthy granulations which gradually occupy 
and fill the hollow in deep, fistulous wounds. They are indis- 
pensable, for except some orifice be made for the matter to flow 
from the bottom of the wound it will eat deeper, and the heal- 
ing process can never be accomplished. On these accounts a 
seton passed through the bottom of the ulcer in poll evil and 
fistulous withers is of much benefit. Setons are sometimes use- 
ful by promoting a discharge in the neighborhood of an in- 
flamed part, and thus carrying away a portion of the fluids 
which overload or would otherwise more distend the vessels of 
that part ; then a seton is placed in the cheek with considerable 
advantage when the eyes are inflamed. 



58 THE H0E8E AND HIS DISEASES. 



Clipping. 

As to thi^ new method of clipping and its supposed improve- 
ment, shaving the horse, such deviations from nature come to no 
good. There may not be so much perspiration hanging about the 
hair when the horse is warmed by a fast drive and comes to a 
standstill on a cold day ; therefore the cooling process of evap- 
oration in such a situation may not be so long continued. But 
then let it be remembered that the cold is more intense when 
the frosty air comes in contact with the horse's heated skin. It 
is during these pauses inaction that the animal wants something 
to protect him from the cold upon the opened pores of the 
skin. While the horse is in action a supply of heat is obtained 
by the effect of that action, but when the action is suspended 
some clothing, natural or artificial, something through which 
the animal heat shall not escape, is necessary to prevent the 
chilling of the horse, the exhaustion of vital powers and the 
dangerous reaction of fever. My advice is, not to clip a horse, 
but let nature alone. Good care will keep him looking just as 
well, if not better, than the process of clipping. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 59 



Not "Lying Do'wn. 



It not uncommonly happens that a horse will seldom or never 
lie down in the stable. He sometimes continues in good health 
and feeds and works well, but generally his legs swell or he be- 
comes fatigued sooner than another horse. If it is impossible to 
let him loose in the stable, or to put him in a spare box, I know 
not what is to be done. No means, gentle or cruel, will force 
him to lie down. The secret is, he is tied up and has either 
never dared to lie down through fear of confinement of the hal- 
ter, or he has been cast in the night and severely in- 
jured. If he can be suffered to range the stable or to 
have a comfortable box in which he may be loose, he 
will usually lie down the first night. Some few horses, how- 
ever, will lie down in a stable, and not in a loose box. A 
fresh, well made bed, will generally tempt him to lie down as 
soon as any method I know of. 



60 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



Bleeding^, 



This operation is performed with a fleam or lancet. The first 
is the common instrument and the safest, except in skillful 
hands. The lancet, however, has a more surgical appearance* 
and will be adopted by the veterinary practitioner. A blood- 
stick (a piece of hard wood loaded at one end with lead) is 
used to strike the fleam into the vein. This is sometimes done 
with too great violence, and the opposite side of the coat of the 
vein is wounded. Bad cases of inflammation have resulted 
from this. If the fist be doubled, and the fleam be sharp, and 
struck with sufficient force with the lower part of the hand, the 
blood-stick may be dispensed with. For general bleeding the 
jugular vein is selected. The horse is blindfolded on the side 
on which he is to be bled, or his head turned well away ; the 
hair is smoothed along the course of the vein with the moisten- 
ed finger ; then with the third and little fingers of the left hand , 
which holds the fleam, pressure is made on the vein, sufficient 
to bring it fairly into view but not enough to swell it too much, 
for then, presenting a rounded surface, it would be apt to roll 
or slip under the blow. The point to be selected is about two 
inches below the union of the two portions of the jugular vein, 
at the angle of the jaw. The fleam is to be placed in a direct 
line with the course of the vein, and over the precise centre of 
the vein, as close to it as possible, but its point not absolutely 
touching the vein. A sharp rap with the blood-stick or the 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 61 

hand on that part of the back of the fleam immediately over 
the blade, will cut through the vein and the blood will flow. A 
fleam with a large blade should always be prepared, for the ope- 
ration will be materially shortened, which will be a matter of 
some consequence with a restive horse; and a quantity of blood 
drawn speedily will have far more effect on the system than 
double the weight slowly taken : while the wound will heal just 
as quickly as one made by a smaller instrument. There is no 
occasion to press so hard against the neck with the pail or can, 
as some do ; a slight pressure, if the incision has been made 
large enough, and straight, and in the middle ot the vein, will 
cause the blood to flow sufficiently fast ; or, the finger being 
introduced into the mouth between the tushes and the grinders, 
and gently moved about, will keep the mouth in motion, and 
hasten the rapidity of the stream by the pressure and action of 
the neighboring muscles. When sufficient blood has been taken 
the edges of the wound should be brought closely and exactly 
together, and kept together by a small, sharp pin being passed 
through them. Round this a little tow or a few hairs from the 
horse's mane should be wrapped, so as to cover the whole of the 
incision ; and the head of the horse should be tied up for sev- 
eral hours to prevent his rubbing the part against the manger. 
In bringing the edges of the wound together and introducing 
the pin, care should be taken not to draw the skin too much 
from the neck, as blood will insinuate itself between the skin 
and the muscles beneath, and cause an unsightly end sometimes 
troublesome swelling. The blood should be received into a ves- 
sel the dimensions of which are exactly known, so that the ope. 
rator may be able to calculate at any period of the bleeding the 
quantity that is subtracted. Care likewise should be taken that 
the blood flow in a regular stream into the center of the vessel ; 



62 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

for, if it be allowed to trickle down the sides, the blood will not 
afterward undergo those changes by which we partially judge 
of the extent of the inflammation. The pulse, however, and 
the symptoms of the case collectively, will form a better crite- 
rion than any change in the blood. Twenty-four hours after 
the operation the edges of the wound will have united, and the 
pin should be withdrawn. When the bleeding is to be repeated, 
if more than three or four hours have elapsed, it would be more 
prudent to make a fresh incision than to open the old wound. 

Few directions are necessary for the use of the lancet. They 
who are competent to operate with it will scarcely require any. 
If the point be sharp, the lancet can scarcely be too broad- 
shouldered, and an abscess lancet will generally make a freer 
incision than that in common use. A spring lancet has lately 
been invented by which any one may bleed from the jugular or 
from a smaller vein safely and certainly. Whatever instrument 
be adopted, too much care cannot be taken to have it perfectly 
clean and very sharp. It should always be carefully wiped and 
dried immediately after the operation. Otherwise in a very 
short time the edges will begin to corrode. 

For general bleeding the jugular vein is selected, or the 
largest superficial vein, and the most easily got at. In every 
affection of the head, and in cases of fever or extended inflam- 
matory action it is decidedly the best place for bleeding. In 
local inflammation blood may be taken from any superficial 
vein. In supposed affection of the shoulder, or of the fore-leg 
or foot, the plate vein, which comes from the inside of the arm, 
and runs upwards directly in front of the hinder extremity, 
may be opened. Blood is sometimes abstracted from the sa- 
phoena or thigh vein, which runs across the inside of the thigh. 
In foot cases it may be taken from the coronet, or, much more 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 68 

safely, from the toe ; not by cutting out, as the farrier does, a 
piece of the sole at the top of the frog, which sometimes causes 
a wound difficult to heal and followed by festering, but cutting 
down, with a fine drawing-knife called a searcher, at the union 
between the crust and the sole, at the very toe, until the 
blood flows, and, if necessary, encouraging its discharge by 
dipping the foot into warm water. The mesh-work of both ar- 
teries and veins will be here divided, and blood may be generally 
obtained in any quantity that may be needed. The bleeding 
may be stopped with the greatest ease by placing a bit of tow 
in the little groove that has been cut, and tacking the shoe 
over it. 



64 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



Air in the Stable. 



A supply of pure air is necessary to the existence and health 
of man and beast. In some stables the supply, if not too 
great, is carelessly and injuriously admitted, for the wind blows 
in from every quarter, and beats directly upon the animal. 
When he has been well seasoned to this it does not seem to do 
him any harm, except that he has an unthrifty coat and is out 
of condition. The common error, however, is to exclude as 
much as possible every breath of air, and to have the breath of 
the stable hot and unwholesome. The effect of several horses 
being shut up in the same stable is to render the air unpleas- 
antly hot. A person coming from without cannot breathe many 
minutes without profuse perspiration. The horse stands hour 
after hour in it, and sometimes clothed, and then his covering is 
suddenly stripped off, and he is led into the open air, the tem- 
perature of which is thirty or forty degrees below that of the 
stable. Putting the humanity of the thing for a moment out of 
the question, I ask, must not the animal thus treated be subject 
to rheumatism, catarrh, and inflammation of the lungs ? It has 
been replied that the horse keeps himself warm while he is 
thus exposed, by exercise, and that a man using strong 
exertions cares but little about the quantity of clothing upon 
him. The horse constantly in motion after his great coat and 
all his body clothes have been stripped from him, and he has 
been turned out naked, when the mercury in the thermometer 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASi:S. 65 

is below the freezing point, does he not often stand hour after 
hour in the road or street, when the owner is warming himself, 
and this after he has been driven very fast, and his susceptibil- 
ity to the painful and injurious influence of cold has been ex- 
erted to the utmost. It is not so generally known as it should 
be that the return to a hot stable is quite as dangerous as the 
change from a heated atmosphere to a cold and biting air. It is 
the sudden change of temperature, whether from heat to cold or 
cold to heat, that does the mischief, and yearly destroys a great 
many horses. The stable is large according to the number of 
horses it is destined to contain. A stable for six horses should 
not be less than forty feet in length, and fourteen feet wide. If 
there be no loft above, the inside of the roof should be plas- 
tered to prevent direct currents of air and occasional droppings 
from broken tile, and the heated and foul air should escape and 
cool and pure air be admitted by elevation of the central tile, 
or by large timber carried through the roof with caps a little 
above them, to prevent the beating in of rain, or by gratings 
placed high up in the walls. These latter apertures should be 
as far above the horses as they can conveniently be placed, by 
which means all injurious draughts will be prevented. When 
disease begins to appear among horses in illy ventilated stables, 
is it wonderful that it spreads among them, and that the plague 
spot should be, as it were, placed on the door of such a stable ? 
When distemper appears in the spring it is in very many cases 
to be placed or traced first of all to such a pest-house. It is 
peculiarly fatal there. Of nothing am I more certain than that 
the majority of the ailments of the horse, and those of the 
worst and most fatal character, are to be attributed to the un- 
natural heat of the stable, and the sudden change of the ani- 
mal from a high to a low, or from a low to a high temperature. 



66 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



Slipping the Halter. 



This is a trick at which many horses are so clever that 
scarcely a night passes without their getting loose. It is a very 
serious habit, for it enables the horse sometimes to gorge him- 
self with food to the imminent danger of staggers, or it exposes 
him as he wanders about to be kicked by the other horses, while 
his restlessness will often keep the whole stud awake. If the 
web of the halter, being first accurately fitted to the horse's 
neck, is allowed to slip only one way, or a strap is attached 
to the halter and buckled round the neck, but not sufficiently 
tight to be of serious inconvenience, the power of slipping his 
collar will be taken away. 



Weaving. 



This consists in a motion of the head, neck and body from 
side to side like the shuttle of a weaver passing through the 
web, and hence the name which is given to this peculiar and 
incessant action. It indicates an irritable, impatient temper, 
and a dislike to the confinement of the stable, and a horse that 
is thus incessantly on the fret will seldom carry flesh, or be safe 
to ride or drive. There is no cure for it but the close tying up of 
the animal except at feeding time. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 67 



JAght, 

This neglected branch of stable management is of far more 
consequence than is generally imagined, and it is particularly 
neglected by those for whom these treatises are principally de- 
signed. The farmer's stable is frequently destitute of any 
glazed windows, and has only a shutter, which is raised in warm 
and shut down in cold weather. When the horse is in the stable 
only during a few hours of the day, this is not of so much con- 
sequence, nor so much to horses of slow work, but for carriage 
horses, as far as the eyes are concerned, a dark stable is little 
less injurious than a foul and heated one. To illustrate tills, 
reference may be made to the unpleasant feeling and the utter 
impossibility of reading distinctly where a man, suddenly com- 
ing from a dark place into the full blaze of day. The sensation 
of mingled pain and giddiness is not soon to be forgotten, and 
some minutes pass before the eye can accommodate itself to the 
increased light, and if this were to happen every day or several 
times a day the sight would be injured or possibly blindness 
would ensue. Can we wonder, then, that the horse taken from 
a dark stable into a glare of light, and feeling probably as we 
should under the same circumstances, and unable for a time to 
see anything around him distinctly should become a starter, or 
that the frequently repeated and violent effect of sudden light 
should induce inflammation of the eyes, so intense as to termi- 
nate in blindness. There is indeed no doubt in the mind of 



68 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

any one familiar with the subject that horses kept in a dark 
stable are frequently notorious starters, and that starting has 
been evidently traced to this cause. Farmers know and should 
profit by the knowledge, that the darkness of the stable is not 
infrequently a cover for great uncleanness. A glazed window, 
with leaden divisions between the small panes, would not cost 
much, and would admit a degree of light somewhat more nearly 
approaching to that of day, and at the same time would render 
the concealment of gross inattention and want of cleanliness 
impossible. If plenty of light be admitted, the walls of the 
stable and especially that portion of them w^hich is before the 
horse's head should not be of too glaring a color. The constant 
reflection from a white wall and especially if the sun shines into 
the stable, will be as injurious to the eyes as the sudden change 
from darkness to light. The perpetual slight excess of stimulus 
will do as much misc^iief as the occasional but more violent 
one when the animal is taken from a kind of twilight into the 
blaze of day. The colors of the stable, therefore, should depend 
the quantity of light. Where much can be admitted the walls 
should be of a gray hue ; where darkness would otherwise pre- 
vail frequent whitewashing may in some degree dissipate the 
gloom. For another reason it will be evident that the stable 
should not possess too glaring a light. It is the resting-place 
of the horse. The work of the farmer's horse, indeed, is con- 
fined principally to the day, but the laborer's or others, are de- 
manded at all periods. The hour of exertion having passed, 
the animal returns to his stable to feed and to repose, and the 
latter is as necessary as the former, in order to prepare him for 
renewed work. Something approaching to the dimness of twi- 
light is required to induce the animal to compose himself to 
sleep. This half light, more particularly suits horses of heavy 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 69 

work, and who draw almost as much by weight of carcass that 
they can throw into the collar as by the degree of muscular en- 
ergy of which they are capable. In the quietness of a dimly 
lighted stable they obtain repose and accumulate flesh and fat. 
Dealers are perfectly aware of this. They have their darkened 
stables in which the young horses with little or no exercise are 
fed upon mashes and ground corn, and made up for sale. The 
round and plump appearance, however, which deludes the un- 
wary, soon vanishes with altered treatment, and the animal is 
found to be unfit for hard work, and predisposed to every in- 
flammatory disease. The circumstances, then, under which a 
darkened stable may be allowed, will be easily determined by 
the owner of the horse, but as a general rule dark stables are 
unfriendly to cleanliness, the frequent cause of the vice of 
starting, and of the most serious diseases of the eye. 



70 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



Apoplexy. 



The attack sometimes assumes a much more violent form than 
at others. The horse falls and dies at once. It then resembles, 
or is the same as, apoplexy in the human being. To this more 
serious form of the disease the horse is subject in the stable and 
even at pasture. But there is generally some warning ; he will 
be seen with his head low, extended almost to the ground, and 
supported against the manger; he staggers as he stands; if 
moved he appears as though he would fall ; his sigkt and hear- 
ing are evidently affected. This is not mad staggers, for no 
inflammation of the brain is found ; nor stomach staggers, for 
there is no distention of the stomach. The horse will continue 
in this way from one to twelve hours ; he then falls, grinds his 
teeth, his eyes are open, protruded, and fixed ; the pupil is di- 
lated ; there are twitchings about the frame ; the muzzle is 
cold ; the vein in the- neck is evidently swelled ; he is unable to 
swallow ; the drink is returned by the nostrils or the mouth ; 
the dung is often voided involuntarily ; the twitching increases 
to strong convulsions, and death speedily closes the scene. If 
there be time for medical treatment, the course to be pursued 
is plain enough. Bleed copiously ; take at once eight or ten 
quarts of blood (from a vein in preference to an artery, for an 
artery which supplies the brain cannot be got at). Bleed from 
the jugular, or common neck vein, for that returns the blood 
from the brain, and a large quantity taken from this vein may 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 71 

possibly give relief. Next back-rake, or remove the dung from 
the lower intestines with the hand, and give a dose of physic. 
But the case is generally hopeless, and the most decisive and 
skillful treatment alone can avail. I decidedly object to two 
methods of cure employed by some farriers, and farmers, too. 
The first is to blow pepper, and Cayenne pepper, if they can 
get it, up the nostril of the horse. The violent sneezing that is 
produced if the horse is not too insensible, will probably, and 
almost certainly, rupture some of the vessels already over-dia- 
tended. The other practice is to give spice and bark to rouse 
the animal. The effect of these would be to quicken the circu- 
lation and to send yet more blood to that organ which already 
has a great deal too much. 



72 THE HORSE AXD HIS DISEASES. 



Physicking. 



This is a mode of treatment necessary under various diseases, 
but which has injured more horses, and in fact absolutely de- 
stroyed more of them, than any other thing that can be men- 
tioned. When a horse comes from grass to hard meat, or from 
the cool open air to a hot stable, a dose of physic, or even two 
doses, may be useful to prevent the tendency to inflammation 
which must be the necessary consequence of so sudden and 
great a change. To a horse that is becoming too fat, or has 
surfeit, grease, or mange, or that the horse is out of condition, 
a dose of physic is often most serviceable. But I do enter a 
protest against the periodical physicking of all horses in the 
spring and fall, and particularly against that severe system 
which is thought necessary to train them for work, and the ab- 
surd method of treating the horse when under the operation of 
physic. A horse should be carefully prepared for the action of 
physic. Two or three bran mashes on that or the preceding 
day are far from sufficient when ahorse is about to be physicked, 
whether from custom or to promote his condition. Mashes 
should be given until the dung becomes softened — a less quan- 
tity of physic will suffice, and it will more quickly pass through 
the intestines and be more equally diffiised over them. I would 
give bran mashes for a week or ten days, three times a day, in 
preference to a dose of physic. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 73 



Worms. 

Worms of different kinds inhabit the intestines, but except 
when they exist in very great numbers they are not so hurtful as 
is generally supposed, although the groom may trace to them 
hide-bound, cough, loss of appetite, gripes, and a variety of 
other ailments. The long white worm, much resembling the 
common earth worm, and being from six to ten inches long, in- 
habit the small intestines. It is a formidable looking animal 
and if there are many of them they may consume more than 
can be spared of the nutritive part of the food, or the mucus 
of the bowels, and I have seen a tightened skin and rough coat 
and tucked up belly connected with their presence. They have 
then, however, been voided in large quantities, and when they 
are not thus voided I should trace these appearances to other 
causes. A dose of physic will sometimes bring away almost in- 
credible quantities of them. Calomel is often given as a vermi- 
fuge, but the less this drug is given to the horse the better. It 
is the principal ingredient in some quack medicines for the ex- 
pulsion of worms from the human subject, and thence it came 
to be used for the horse, but in him I believe it to be inert as a 
vermifuge and only useful as quickening the action of the liver. 
When the horse can be spared, a strong dose of physic is an 
excellent vermifuge, so far as the long round worm is concerned, 
but perhaps a better medicine, and one not interfering with the 
feeding or working of the horse may be found by referring to 
page 38 of this book. 



74 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



Color. 



The color of the hair admits of every variety, and each color 
becomes in turn fashionable. Th« color of the hair, like that 
of the skin, is influenced by, or depends on, that of the mucus 
mesh-work under the cuticle. 

There are comparatively few white horses now remaining. 
The snow-white palfrey, with its round carcass and barb head, 
originally from Spain, or perhaps from Barbary, and rarely ex- 
ceeding the size of a Grallow&y, is now almost extinct. Some 
yet remain in the possession of the Duke of Montrose. They 
are of good constitution, and pleasant in their parts. The ma- 
jority of white horses are those that have become so. Light 
grey colts begin to grow white before they are five years old, 
especially if they have not much dark mixture about thejoints. 

Grey horses are of different shades, from the lightest silver to 
a dark iron-grey. The silver-grey reminds the observer of the 
palfrey, improved by an admixture of Arab blood. He does 
not often exceed fourteen and a half hands high, and is round 
carcassed, light legged, with oblique posterns — calculated for a 
carriage or a lady's riding — seldom subject to disease, but not 
very fast, nor fit for hard work. 

The iron-grey is usually a large horse, higher in the withers, 
deeper and thinner in the carcass, more angular in all his pro- 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 75 

portions, and in many cases a little too long in the legs. Some 
of these greys make good hunters and carriage horses. But 
their defect is in their feet, which are liable to contraction, not 
so often accompanied by lameness, however, as in many other 
horses. 

The dappled-grey is generally a handsomer and a better horse 
than the iron-grey. All the angular points of the iron-grey are 
filled up, and with that which not only adds to the beauty, but 
to use. There are not, however, so many dappled-greys as there 
used to be, because the bays have been bred with so much care. 
The dappled-grey, if he be dark at first, will usually hold his 
color to old age. Some of the greys approach to a nutmeg, or 
even to a bay color. Many of these are handsome, and most of 
them strong. 

The roans of every variety of color and form are composed 
of white mixed with bay or red or black. In some it seems to 
be a natural mixture of the colors ; in others it looks as if one 
color was powdered or sprinkled over another. They are very 
pretty horses for ladies or light buggies, and many of them are 
easy in their paces, but they do not usually display much blood, 
nor are they celebrated for endurance. If they should have 
white fore-legs and white hoofs, they are too often tender- footed, 
or become so even by a little hard work. 

The strawberry horse is a mixture of sorrel with white, usually 
beautiful and pleasant, and more adapted for these qualities 
than for strength and endurance. 

The pied horse is one that has distinctive spots or patches of 
different colors, but almost invariably of white with some other 



t \ 
76 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

color. They are not liked on account of their peculiarity of color, 
nor in teams of horses, but they look well when matched before 
a phseton or light buggy. Their value mostly depends on their 
breed, but of themselves they have no peculiar characteristics, 
except that a white leg and foot is as suspicious in them as it is 
in the roan. 

The dun, of the Galloway size, is often attached to the curricle 
or the phseton ; but the larger is the true farmer's or miller's 
horse, and with no extra speed, and not always extraordinary 
strength, and sometimes a little drone, yet a good-tempered, 
good-feeding, and a good, useful horse. Varieties of the dun, 
shaded with a darker color, or dappled, and not standing too 
high, are very handsome, and are for light carriages and par- 
ticularly for ladies to dr^ve. 

The cream-color of Hanoverian extraction, with his white iris 
and red pupil, is appropriated to royal use. Attached to the 
state carriage of the monarch he is a superb horse. His bulky, 
yet perfectly formed body, his swelling crest, and his proud and 
lofty action, as if conscious of his ofl&ce, qualify him for the s er- 
vice that is expected from him, but we have no experience of 
how far he would suit other purposes. 

Of the chestnuts there are three varieties — the lightest red, or 
the sorrel, usually with white about them, either on the face or 
legs, generally lightly made, yet some of them bulky enough 
for the heaviest loads. Their color is generally considered ob- 
jectionable, many of them have no breeding at all, and the best 
bred are supposed to be somewhat deficient in endurance. The 
light chestnut, with less red and a little more bay or brown, is 
considered a preferable horse, especially if he has no white 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 77 

about him, or only a small portion of it ; yet even he, although 
pleasant to ride, is sometimes irritable and generally weak. I 
except one variety, the Suffolk Punch ; a very heavy horse, and 
adapted for slow work, but perfect in his kind, which no labor 
can daunt, no fatigue overcome. This is a breed unfortunately 
now nearly extinct. The present variety, however crossed, i$ 
not equal to the old Suflolk. The dark chestnut is as different 
a horse from the light chestnut as can be easily imagined. 
Round in the carcass, powerful in the quarters, but rather fine 
in the legs ; possessed of great endurance, and with a constitu- 
tion that rarely knows ailment, except that the feet are small 
and liable to contraction, and that accompanied by lameness, 
and the horse is often of a hot and unmanageable temper. 

Of the bays, there are many varieties, and they include the 
very best of our horses of every description. The bright yellow 
bay, although very handsome, and especially if his mane and 
tail are black, is least valuable of constitution. The proper bay. 
with no white about him, and black from the knees and the 
hocks to the feet, is the most desirable of all colors. He has 
generally a good constitution, naturally good feet, and if his 
conformation is not faulty he will turn out a valuable horse for 
almost every purpose. As we approach to the brown, we find 
in the bay brown not always so much show and action, but 
more strength and endurance, and more usefulness. He usually 
has more substance than the lighter bay, and more deft leg ; 
and could we find the same degree of breeding he would be a& 
handsome and more valuable. A good bay-brown or brown 
horse with a sufficient quality of blood is indeed a good horse. 

When we arrive at the brown, it is necessary to examine the 



78 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

degree of breeding. This color is not so fashionable, and there- 
fore there have been many neglected. There are many good 
ones, and those that are good are valuable. But many of them 
are only a half or quarter bred, and therefore comparatively 
coarse, yet useful for the saddle, and for the harness, and 
for slow work, and occasionally for that which is more rapid. 
The black-brown is generally more neglected, so far as its breed 
is concerned, and deserves to be examined more carefully. He 
frequently retains much of the goodness of constitution of the 
brown and bay-brown. 

Of the black horse greater care has been taken. The heavy 
black of Lincolnshire and the midland counties is a noble 
horse, and would be almost beyond price if he could be ren- 
dered more active. The next in size form the majority of our 
wagon horses, and perhaps our best; and there is a smaller 
breed still, and to the improvement of which much attention 
has been devoted. Many of our cavalry are mounted on black 
thoroughbreds, and black hunters have been seen ; but the im- 
provement of this color has not been studied except for the pur- 
poses that have been mentioned. Their peculiarly high action, 
while not unobjectionable for draft and desirable for parade, 
would be unbearable in a roadster, and some have said that the 
black horses are more subject to vice, diseases and blindness 
than any other color. This charge is not, perhaps, true to its 
full extent, but there certainly are a great many worthless black 
horses in all parts of the country. After all, there is an old 
saying that a good horse cannot be of a bad color, and it is far 
more necessary to attend to the conformation and points of the 
animal than to his color. These observations, however, al- 
though they admit of many exceptions, may be useful in guid- 
ing to the judicious selection of the horse. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 79 



The Arteries. 



The vessels which carry the blood from the heart are called 
arteries. They are composed of three coats. The outer or elas- 
tic is that by which they are enabled to yield to the gush of 
blood, and enlarge their dimensions as it is forced along them, 
and by which, also, they contract again as soon as the gush of 
blood has passed. The middle coat is the muscular, by which 
this contraction is more powerfully performed, and the blood 
urged on in its course. The inner or membraneous coat is the 
mere lining of the tube. This yielding of the artery to the 
gush of blood forced into it by the contraction of the heart con- 
stitutes the pulse. 



80 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 



The Veins. 



These vessels carry back to the heart the blood which haa 
been conveyed to the different parts by the arteries. They have 
but two coats, a muscular and membraneous. Both of them are 
thin and comparatively weak. They are more numerous and 
much larger than the arteries, and consequently the blood, 
lessened in quantity by the various secretions separated from it, 
flows more slowly through them. It is forced on partly by the 
first impulse communicated to it by the heart, partly, in the ex- 
tremities and external portion of the frame, by the pressure of 
the muscles, and in the cavity of the chest its motion is assisted 
or principally caused by the sudden opening of the ventricles 
of the heart, after they have closed upon and driven out their 
contents, and thus causing a vacuum which the blood rushes on 
to fill. There are curious valves in the veins which prevent 
the blood from flowing backward. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 81 



The Pulse. 



The pulse is a very useful assistant to the practitioner of hu- 
man medicine, and much more so to the veterinary surgeon, 
whose patients cannot describe the ailment or pain. The num- 
ber of pulsations in any artery will give the number of beatings 
of the heart, and so express the irritation of that organ and 
of the frame generally. In a state of health the number of 
beats in the pulse of a farmer's horse is about thirty-six times 
in a minute. In that of the smaller and in the thoroughbred 
horse the pulsations are forty or forty-two. This is said to be 
the standard pulse, the pulse of health. It varies singularly 
little in horses of the same size and breed, and when it is found 
regular there can be little materially wrong. The most con- 
venient place to feel the pulse of the lior^e is at the lower jaw, 
a little behind the spot where the sub-auxiliary artery and vein 
and the parotid duct come from under the jaw. Thei e the num- 
ber of pulsations can be easily counted, and the character of the 
pulse, a matter ot fully equal importance, will be clearly ascer- 
tained. Many horsemen put their hand to the horse's side. 
They can certainly count the pulse, but they do nothing more. 
We must be able to press the artery against some hard body, as 
the jaw-bone, in order to ascertain the manner in which the 
blood passes through it, and the quantity which flows. When 
the pulse reaches fifty or fifty-five some degree of fever may be 
apprehended, and proper care should be taken. Seventy or 



82 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

seventy-five will indicate a somewhat dangerous state, and put 
the owner and the surgeon not a little on the alert. Few horses 
long survive a pulse of one hundred, for by this excessive action 
the energies of nature are speedily worn out. Some things, 
however, should be taken into account in forming our conclu- 
sions from the frequency of the pulse. Exercise, a warm stable 
or fear will increase the number of pulsations. When a care- 
less, brutal fellow goes "up to a horse and speaks harshly to him 
and handles him roughly, he adds ten beats per minute to 
the horse's pulse, and will often be misled in the opinion he 
may form of the state of the animal. A judicious person will 
approach the patient gently, and pat and soothe him, and even 
then the circulation will probably be a little disturbed, and he 
should take the additional precaution of noting the pulse a sec- 
ond time before he leaves the animal. 

If a quick pulse indicates irritation and fever, a slow pulse 
will likewise characterize diseases, of an opposite character. It 
accompanies the sleepy stage of staggers, and every malady 
connected with a deficiency of nervous energy. The heart may 
not only be excited to more frequent, but also to more violent 
action. It may contract more powerfully upon the blood, 
which will be driven with greater force through the arteries, 
and the expansion of the vessels will be accomplished with 
greater force and more sudden. 

Then we have the hard pulse, the sure indicator of consider- 
able fever, and calling for the immediate and free use of the 
lancet. Sometimes the pulse may be hard and jerking, and yet 
small. The stream, though forcible, is not great. The heart is 
so irritable that it contracts before the ventricle is properly 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 83 

filled. The practitioner knows that this shows a dangerous 
state of disease. It is an almost invariable accompaniment of 
inflammation of the bowels. 

A weak pulse, when the arterial stream flows slowly, is caused 
by the feeble action of the heart. It is the reverse of fever, 
and expressive of debility. 

The oppressed pulse is when the arteries seem to be fully dis- 
tended with blood. There is an obstruction somewhere, and 
the action of the heart can hardly force the stream along, or 
communicate pulsation to the current. This is the case in sud- 
den inflammation of the lungs. They are overloaded and 
gorged with blood, which cannot find its way through their 
minute vessels. This accounts lor the well-known fact of a co- 
pious bleeding increasing a pulse previously oppressed. A part 
of the blood being removed from the distended and choked- 
up vessels, the remainder is able to flow on. 

There are many other varieties of pulse, which it would be 
tedious here to particularize, and I will conclude my remarks 
on it by observing that, during the stage of bleeding its state 
should be carefully observed. Many veterinar\^ surgeons, and 
gentlemen, too, are apt to order a certain quantity of blood 
taken away, but they do not condescend to superintend the ope- 
ration. This is unpardonable in the surgeon, and (jensurable 
in the owner of the horse. The horse is bled for some particular 
purpose ; there is some state of disease indicated by a peculiar 
quality of the pulse, which we are trying to alter. The most 
experienced practitioner cannot tell the exact quantity of blood 
that must be abstracted to produce the desired effect. The 
change of the pulse can alone indicate when the object is ac- 



84 THE HOESE AND HIS DISEASES. 

complished, and therefore the operator should have his finger 
on the artery during the act of bleeding, and, comparatively 
regardless of the quantity, continue to take blood until, in in- 
flammation of the lungs, the oppressed pulse becomes fuller and 
more distinct, or, the strong pulse, of considerable fever, is 
evidently softer, or the horse shows symptoms of faintness. 

The arteries divide as they proceed through the frame, and 
branch out into innumerable minute tubes, termed capillaries 
(hair- like tubes), and they even become so small as to elude 
the eye. The slightest puncture cannot be inflicted without 
woundiug some of them. In these little tubes the nourishment 
of the body and the separation of all the various secretions is 
performed, and in consequence of this the blood is changed, 
and when the capillaries unite together and begin to enlarge, 
it is found to be no longer arterial, or of a florid red color, but 
venous, or of a blacker-hue. Therefore the principal termina- 
tion of the arteries is in the veins. The point where one ends 
and the other commences cannot be ascertained. It is when 
the red arterial blood, having discharged its functions, is 
changed to venous, or black blood, but this is a process gradu- 
ally performed, and the vessel is gradually changing its charac- 
ter. Branches from the ganglial or sympathetic nerves wind 
around these vessels, and endue them with energy to discharge 
their functions. When the nerve communicates too much en- 
ergy and these vessels. consequently act with too much power, 
inflammation is produced. If this disturbed action be confined 
to a small space, or a single organ, it is said to be local, as in- 
flammation of the eyes or lungs. When this inordinate action 
spreads from its original seat and embraces the whole of the ar- 
terial system, fever is said to be present, which usually in- 
creases in proportion as the local disturbance increases, and 
subsides with it. 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 85 

The Farmer^s Horse. 

The farmer's horse is an animal of all work, to be ridden oc- 
casionally to market or for pleasure, but to be principally em- 
ployed for draught. He should be higher than tiie road horse. 
About fifteen hands and two inches may be taken as the best 
standard. A horse with a shoulder thicker, lower, and less 
slanting than would be chosen in a hackney will better suit the 
collar, and collar work will be chiefly required of him. A stout, 
compact horse should be selected, yet not a heavy, cloddy one. 
Some blood will be desirable, but the half-bred horse will gen- 
erally best suit the farmer's purpose. He should have weight 
enough to throw into the collar, and sufficient activity to get 
over the ground. Farmers are now beginning to realize tlie su- 
periority of the moderate sized, strong, active horse over the 
bulkier yet slower horse of former days. It is not only in har- 
vest or when a cold, frosty morning must be seized to cart 
manure that this is perceived, but in the every-day work of the 
farm, the saving of time, and the saving of provender, too, will 
be very considerable in the course of a year. It has often been 
said that a horse used much for draught is neither safe nor 
pleasant for the saddle. The little farmer does not want a 
showy, complete hackney. He will be content it he is tolerably 
well carried, and if he has taken a little care in the choice of 
his horse he has selected one Avith sound feet, shoulders not too 
thick, and legs not too much under him, and if he keeps him in 
good condition and does not scandalously overweight him the 
five days' carting or harrow work will not materially unfit him 
for the saddle, especially if the rider bear in mind what I have 
termed the golden rule of horsemanship, always a little, to feel 
of the mouth of the animal he is upon. 



86 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

A farmer, and especially a small farmer, will prefer a mare to 
a gelding, both for riding and driving. She will not cost him 
so much at first, and he will get a great deal more work out of 
her. There can be no doubt, taking bulk for bulk, that a mare 
is stronger and more lasting than a gelding, and in addition to 
this the farmer has her to breed from. This and the j3rofit that 
is attached to it is well known in the breeding counties, but why 
the breeding of horses for sale should be confined to a few 
northern districts is not easy to explain. Wherever there are 
good horses with conveniences for breeding colts, the farmer 
may start as a breeder with a good chance of success. If he has 
a few useful cart mares^ and crosses them with a well-knit half- 
bred horse, he will certainly have colts useful for every pur- 
pose of agriculture, and some of them sufliciently light for a 
carriage. If he has a superior mare, one of the old Cleveland 
breed, and puts her to a bony three-fourths bred horse, or, if he 
can find one compact enough, a seven-eighths or a thorough- 
bred, he will have a fair chance to rear a colt that will amply 
repay him as a carriage horse. The mare need not be idle 
while she is breeding. She may be worked moderately almost 
ail the time to the period of foaling, and with benefit rather 
than otherwise. Nor is there occasion that much of her time 
should be lost even while she is suckling. If she is put to horse 
in June the foaling time will come and the loss of labor occur 
in the most leisure time of the year. 

There are two rocks on which the farmer often strikes. He 
pays little attention to the kind of mare, and less to the proper 
nourishment of the foal. It may be laid down as a maxim in 
breeding, however general may be the prejudice against it, 
that the value of the foal depends more on the dam than the 
sire. The Arabs are convinced of this, and no price will buy 



THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 87 

from them a likely mare of the highest blood. They trace back 
the pedigree of their horses not through the sire but through the 
dam. The Greek sporting men held the same opinion long be- 
fore the Arab horse was known. The farmer, however, too fre- 
quently thinks that any mare will do to breed from, and if he 
can find a great prancing stallion, with a high-sounding name 
and loaded with fat, he reckons on a valuable colt; and should 
he fail he attributes the fault to the horse, and to his own want 
of judgment. Far more depends on the mare than is dreamed 
of in his philosophy. If he has an under-sized or a blemished 
or unsound mare, let him continue to use her on his farm, for 
she will beat any gelding, but let him not think of breeding 
from her. A young mare with some blood in her and with most 
of the good points about her will alone answer this purpose. 
She may have about her the marks of honest work, but the 
fewer of them the better, and she must not have any disease. 
There is scarcely a malady to which the horse is subject that is 
not hereditary. Contracted feet, curb, spavin, rearing, thick 
wind, and blindness, notoriously descend from the sire or dam 
to the foal. The foal should be well taken care of the first 
two years. It is bad policy to half starve the growing colt. The 
colt, whether intended for a work or carriage horse, may be 
earlier handled, but should not be broken in until three years 
old, and then the best breaking in for the carriage horse is to 
make him earn his own living. Let him be put to a harrow or 
light plow. Going over the fough ground will teach him to 
lift his feet well and give him that high and showy action ad- 
mirable in a carriage horse, but excusable in no other. In the 
succeeding winter he will be perfectly ready for the town or 
country market. 



88 THE HORSE AND HIS DISEASES. 

CONTENTS; 

Apoplexy 76, 71 

Air in the Stable 74, 65 

Arteries 79 

Botts 4 

Bunches 4 

Bone Spavin 22 

Bog Spavin 24 

Blood Spavin 26 

Black Ointment 41 

Bleeding 60, 61, 62, 63 

Callous 4 

Curb 5 

Corns .'..... 6 

Colds 6 

Colic, 7 

Capped Hock 6 

Condition Powders 41 

Cure for Cracked Heels 42 

Crib Biting 50, 51, 52 

Cow Hock ' 55 

Clipping 58 

Corns 74, 75, 76, 77, 78 

Distemper 10 

Diabetes 10 

Elbow of the Horse 11 

Egg Liniment 42 

English Liniment 43 

Eye Wash 43 

Exercise 47, 48, 49 

Farcy 5 

Founder 11 

Flatulent Colic 9 

Farmer's Horse 84, 85, 86 

Grooming 53, 54 

Hoof Liniment 43 

Heave Powder 44, 45 

Hooks in the Eye.. 13 

Inflammation of the Liver 13 

or Hooks in the Eye 13 

of the Stomach 14 

" " Bowels 15 

" " Lungs. 17 

Jaundice 16 



THE HORSE AND Hl.S DISEASES. 89 

Lung Fever 18 

Lampers 19 

Light 67, G8, 69 

Legs— Swelled 33 

Mad Staggers 30, 31 

Nasal Gleet 19 

Not Lying Down 59 

Orange Liniment 45, 46 

Poll Evil 20 

Physic Balls 46 

Physicking 72 

Pulse 81, 82, 83 

Pain in Stomach 45 

Quinsy 21 

Ring Bone 21 

Spasmodic Colic 8, 9 

Still Founder 12 

Spavin 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 

Splint 26, 27, 28, 29,30 

Staggers 30, 31 

Sweeney, or Stiif Shoulders 32 

Scratches, or Grease Heels 32 

Swelled Legs 33 

String Halt 34 

Slovenish Horse 34 

Stifle 35 

Sore Mouth or Tongue 36 

Setons 57 

Slipping the Halter 66 

Thrush 36, 37 

The Farmer's Horse 84, 85, 86 

Tartarmatic for Heaves 46 

Veins 80 

Warts 37 

Whites 38 

Worms 38, 73 

Water Farcy 39 

Wiud Sucking 39 

Wind Gall 40 

Warbles, Sitfast and Galls 56 

Weaving 66 



Studebaker Brothers 

Manufacturing Co. 




'■^'■'■va-fcm.inu iM. 



THE L^K.a-EST 

Carriage & Wagon Builders 



!\THEWOI[LD! 

South Bend, - Indiana. 

REPOSITORY, 

151 & 153 Wabash. Avenue, 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. 



The South Bend Chilled Plow 



So 




-a 

« IT" 



THE STEADIEST f NNING, LIGHTEST DRAFT 

AND EASIEST HANDLED 



Adapted to all Soils and Kinds of Plowing. 

Our Sales Sho^v tlie Largest Increase of any 
Plow Ever Put Upon tlie Market. 



Gret the GJ-ennme 



Send for Descriptive Circular of our 

SOUTH BEND CHILLED PLOW COMPANY. 

MANUFACTURERS, 

SOUTH BEND, - INDIANA. 

I3rarich.es at 

INDIAXAPOL.1S. Iiid. COIALUBI'S. Ohio. 

NASHYII.I.E. Tenii. MILWAUKEE, Wis. 

HAKKISBl RC;. Peiin. 



A.COOUILLARD, 



nVIamifactxirer of 




Farm, Spring, Freight 



and otlier 




■f 



CARRIAGES, 

Light Buggies and Sleighs. 

SOUTH BEND, IND. 



D 




I^roprietors of 



> 

r-l 







BOARD, SALE, AND FEED STABLE 



Located at 



Nos. 128 & 130 Michigan St.. 

SOUTH l^E]Sri3, IND. 



4^ Hack Si 'Bus Line to and from all trains. 



1 






m 




63 Washington Street, 
South Bend, - Indiana, 

Has, by close attention to business, established the 
reputation of having the leading 

aROCBRY, 

BAKERY and 

RESTAURANT 

IF YOU WANT to BUY 

If You Want to Sell Best ! 

IF YOU WAUT jl SQUARE MEjlL 1 

TI? VniT TAT A l\TTl*'airDealing at all times, 
1 r 1 U U V V AIN 1 both in buying & selling, 

GIVE HIM A CALL. 



BENJ. COaVILLARO'S 




VES 



AND 



SALE STABLES, 

Ciriier ffiltMian aol Jetai Sti, 
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA 



Good Horses and Charges Always Low. 
Horses Fed by the Day or Week. 

ANDREW RUSSWURM, 

Dealer in 

HARNESS, SADDLES, COLLARS, BRIDLES, ETC, ETC., 

3X "Washingtoix St., Sontli Bend, Ind. 



THIS CUT I\^EPRESENTS THE 

"NEW" Birdsell Clover Separator 
MONITOR JUNIOR. 

]\T.aTiiitactn.red 

SPECIALLY for STEAM POWER. 




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